Who We Are
by Samuel412
Summary: After a vicious attack by one of Vale's cruelest gangs, a fractured Team RWBY sets out for revenge. But a powerful force has made its presence known, displaying horrifying abilities, and the Team can't say for sure whether its an ally or not. Any and all reviews are welcome!
1. Chapter 1

The roar of the airship's engine settled into a quiet rumble as the craft lowered itself to the ground. The pneumatics of the landing gear hissed as it came to a rest on the asphalt. The side-door opened and a step-ladder extended. The ship's sole passenger stepped down to the ground, supporting himself with his cane. His leg was causing him quite a bit of discomfort on this particular evening, and stress had a habit of making it worse. He had a feeling it would be giving him significantly more grief by the end of the night. He wished for a cup of fresh coffee.

Sheriff Han Auburn of the Vale Police Department saw Ozpin exit the airship and immediately strode over to meet him, dropping the conversation he was having with a forensic investigator. He had already given a lot of thought to how he would greet the professor, what his first words would be, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he cast doubt on all his preparation.

"Pr- Professor Ozpin, sir," He said, cursing himself for stammering, "Thank you for coming."

"Its good to see you again, Sheriff," The Professor replied, "Though I wish the circumstances were different."

"The cir- oh, did- do you know? I only asked you be summoned. We're on a policy of no information being given over scroll-"

"I was not informed of the nature of the incident. However, when one is summoned by the police to a dilapidated region of the industrial district in the middle of the night, one may infer that something unpleasant has transpired."

Ozpin spoke in a tone Han had grown familiar with, one of calmness and serenity that betrayed the seriousness of the speaker's words.

"...And given that the building we currently stand in front of is surrounded by vehicles from your department, as well as ambulances and forensics vans, I feel I was correct in my deduction."

The building was indeed surrounded by various emergency and police vehicles. It was an old warehouse that had once belong to the Schnee Dust Company. It had been in disuse for some time, and had been the site of at least a dozen crimes since it was shut down. No more than three of these incidents had come to the police's attention.

"Yes sir, I'm afraid you were correct," Han said, "We felt you'd want to be informed, especially given-"

"Han." The calm tone had quite abruptly vanished, and Ozpin spoke his former student's name with complete seriousness.

"S-sir?"

"I would appreciate if we might skip pleasantries. This is about one of my students, is it not?"

"Yes sir. We believe so."

"Are they alive?"

"Professor, uh... we believe both of the women involved were your students. One is still alive, sir, the EMTs should be bringing her out soon..."

Ozpin lowered his head and rubbed his eyes. Han stared at him, helplessly, knowing it was best to allow Ozpin to regain his composure. Eventually, the professor looked back up, looking substantially more tired than a moment ago.

"Sir, I'm not going to lie, its a mess in there. We aren't entirely sure what happened yet. I asked them to call you as soon as we realized that the dead- that the girl was one of Beacon's students. We don't have a positive ID, we figured it out because of her weapons."

Ozpin considered these words, sighed, and without a reply, began walking towards the warehouse. He was walking with a noticeable limp, putting more weight than usual on his cane. Han quickly fell into step beside him.

"We're dealing with four bodies, we think. One is your student, the rest are... well, we're going to have trouble identifying them. Like I said, we still don't know exactly what happened. We think the other bodies were the ones who tortur-"

Han stopped himself, too late. He cursed himself again. Ozpin turned suddenly and looked him in the eyes, an uncharacteristic expression of horror on his face. Han began to open his mouth, not having a clue what he was going to say, when the door of the warehouse opened and a team of paramedics wheeled out a gurney. Ozpin turned back around and stared at the girl lying on the gurney, covered in wounds and blood and attached to a variety of medical devices. Even in her horrific state, Ozpin clearly recognized her. He hurried over to her and matched the medical team's pace.

"Miss Belladonna. Miss Belladonna, are you-"

"She's unconscious." reported on of the EMTs, who was attempting to apply pressure to a massive wound on the girl's gut whilst she was being moved, "We had to knock her out after she responded erratically to morphine."

"You gave her morphine? She's a Faunus, why would you give her-"

"We didn't know. We realized afterwards, but it explains the injuries to her head."

Ozpin's eyes widened, "What injuries to her head?" The top of the girl's head were covered in a hastily applied bandage that was soaked in blood.

"Her ears were cut off." The EMT began giving orders to the other members of her team in the same breath, "I want her hooked up to a pulse monitor as quickly as possible. Make sure everybody is aware of the screw-up with the drugs before giving her anything else."

The team began loading the girl into the back of the ambulance. Ozpin watched, his mouth hanging open slightly. Han caught up and stood next to him.

"Her... her ears were..." Ozpin whispered to himself.

"I'm so sorry, I should have done a better job of warning you." Han said.

When a man like Ozpin, who could be defined by his control of his own emotions, showed even the slightest hint of anger, one could only imagine what he was holding down. So when the man turned and glared at Han, and Han saw, for just a second, completely unrestrained fury, it made his heart skip a beat in fear.

"Who did this?" Ozpin articulated his words very carefully, as if struggling not to scream them.

"We think we know. Follow me."

Han lead Ozpin into the warehouse. They weaved through a short maze of long abandoned shipping crates and storage containers before coming to an area that had been cleared out. In this small section of the warehouse, roughly a 10 meter by 10 meter square, the only furniture was a single chair in the middle. The chair was metal, and had torn restraints attached to the front legs and armrests. The floor across the entire improvised clearing was almost entirely covered in blood and gore. Han's uncertainty as to the number of bodies made sense, now. Most of the blood was centred around large piles of human remains: organs, bones, pieces of limbs scattered haphazardly. Forensics inspectors were carefully navigating around the mess, placing numbered markers, snapping pictures, arguing about splatter patterns and such. Only a single body was actually intact, laying face down just 2 meters from the chair. Ozpin had looked away the moment he saw it, recognizing it immediately. It was hard to mistake a head of hair like that.

Ozpin had once again regained composure, albeit trading calmness for a very unsettling coldness.

"Han, I'll ask again. Who did this? And what happened here?"

Before he could answer, Chief Forensic Inspector Prism stepped forward, speaking around the toothpick he held in the corner of his mouth.

"Near as we can figure, these guys exploded."

"They were hit with an explosive weapon?"

"No sir. Their bodies exploded from within. Never seen anything like it."

"Have you made any progress since I was last in here?" Han asked.

"Alright, get this. We scanned the remains for residual Aura. The meter went nuts. We think it was definitely a powerful Aura-based attack, but no Semblance we know of could cause a person to just, y'know, pop."

Ozpin stepped around the nearest puddle and walked up to the body he had recognized. Han nervously hurried after him. Prism joined them with a much more casual demeanour.

"Yeah, she's, ah, she's not as interesting as the others," Prism said, looking around, "Impaled from behind -that's the wound on her back, there- which severed her spine. Aura was probably depleted, so that was likely instantly fatal. She was shot in the back of head afterwards, but it was probably just for good measure."

Ozpin again rubbed his eyes.

"You said you thought you knew who was responsible?"

"One of the... pieces... had intact skin," Han said, "There was a gang tattoo on it. They call themselves The Guardians. They're human supremacists."

"... anyway, most of the floor beneath her is clean," Prism continued, "Which means she died first, before the others exploded. See the weapon on the ground here?"

Prism was pointing at a sword laying in the middle of one of the gore piles. It was a short blade of black metal, the hilt of which was a handgun. Ozpin recognized it as Blake Belladonna's weapon.

"That's the weapon she was killed with. Its placement makes us think that this guy-" He motioned toward the pile of viscera "-was the killer. So, these three torture the Faunus, kill Blondie, then somebody crashes the party and turns 'em inside out."

Ozpin stared hard at Prism for a moment, then without a word strode towards the door. Han glared at Prism in disbelief.

"I didn't come off as too callous, did I?" Prism asked.

"These girls were Beacon academy students, you dumbass." Han said.

Prism stared after Ozpin for a moment, and then something inside him seemed to click. "That wasn't the headmaster, was it? Who was that?"

Ozpin slowly inhaled the cool, night air. Han stepped out the door and saw him, staring forward, deep in thought.

"I'm so sorry, sir. For him, for your students..."

Ozpin turned, something thoughtful in his eyes.

"Was this an isolated attack, Sheriff? Are Miss Belladonna and the other Faunus at my school still in danger?"

"We... don't know, sir. As far as we know all the instigators of the attack are dead."

Ozpin stared at Han, seemingly sizing him up. It made him slightly uncomfortable.

"Do you remember what it was like, Han?"

"Sir?" Han asked, raising an eyebrow.

"When you were training to be a Hunter. When you thought you'd live the life of a warrior. How do you think my students will respond when word of this gets out?"

Han nodded in understanding, "They'll want revenge."

"You and your department will investigate these murders. You will determine who killed these gang members, and how they did what they did. You will hold any "Guardian" you find accountable as an accomplice in these crimes. And when more of these murderers come under attack by unknown assailants... it will not be your priority to identify them."

Han looked about nervously. He looked back to Ozpin, and then nodded.

Ozpin walked in the direction of his waiting airship. Before boarding, he glanced over his shoulder.

"We both have a lot of work to do, Sheriff. I'm sure we'll be in touch again soon."

With that, he climbed into the ship, and closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Blake refused to open her eyes. She refused to move, or speak, or do anything that would spoil this perfect moment. She was wrapped in the arms of a goddess. Her face was being brushed by that golden hair that seemed to radiate the warmth of the sun. Giant breasts pressed up against her own; soft and warm. There was no world around the two of them. No people, no White Fang, no Roman Torchwick or Grimm, no Remnant. There was only the two of them, wrapped in this embrace forever. She nuzzled her face into Yang's neck and kissed her. Yang rubbed the back of her head, played with her long, black ears affectionately. She whispered wonderful things into Blake's ear. It didn't matter how long they stayed like this. There was no passage of time, either. Just her. The goddess. She was the entirety of her own, perfect world, and she allowed Blake to share it.

The pain started in Blake's lower back, where she'd been stabbed. She whimpered, but Yang held her tighter. A burning pain shot through Blake's body. A carefully-crafted Dust weapon that prevented one from raising their Aura, provided the Aura wasn't raised when it struck. Blake winced, and pulled Yang in ever closer.

"Its okay, Blake," Yang whispered, pain in her own voice," Its okay."

"Yang, don't." Blake begged, suddenly feeling excruciating pain in her ears, "Don't leave me."

"Its okay... I love you, Blake."

"Don't say it, Yang!" Blake cried, "He kills you when you say it!"

Yang kissed Blake's forehead and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Tell Ruby that-"

There was a sickening sound of metal cutting flesh and striking bone. Yang gasped. Blake opened her eyes and looked down. Her stomach turned. The tip of Gambol Shroud, her own sword, had burst from Yang's chest, extending out from the space between her breasts. Blake screamed. Yang seemed to be trying to speak, but she was silent, and blood poured from her mouth. Blake reached out to take hold of Yang again, to help her, but she couldn't move. She was tied to a chair.

The sword was pulled back through Yang's body, and she collapsed at Blake's feet unceremoniously. Blake screamed and cried and called out Yang's name. A monster stood over Yang's body. A shapeless void with an ever-changing face. It took the face of a tattooed, scarred man with a goatee. Then it took the face of Roman Torchwick. Then a Grimm. Then Adam Taurus. Then Blake's own face. Then it became a sickening mix of them all. And then the monster put it's foot down on Yang's shoulder, levelled Gambol Shroud at her head, and fired. Chunks of skull were blown off. Blood matted and stained that beautiful hair. Flecks of brain matter splattered Blake's boots. A final spasm went through Yang's body, and then she was still.

The world fell apart. The goddess had died. There was no reason, no logic, no meaning in this world any longer. Blake screamed and the world around her became chaos and pain. A vortex of blood.

Blake's eyes snapped open. She wasn't in that horrid place anymore. She was laying on her back, on soft linen. Fluorescent light filled her eyes. Steady beeping came from the machines around her bed. She had bandages wrapped all over her body. Wires were attached to little sensors on her chest, an IV ran into her hand, and an oxygen tube ran to her nostrils. She sat up slowly, and her body was racked with pain. She fell back to the bed and looked down at herself. She was covered in bandages. Some parts of her body were swollen. There were dark red patches where the bandages needed changing. She could remember each place the knives had cut, or the knuckledusters had struck, cracking bone. But the worst pain was on her scalp. It felt like it was on fire, but there was something else. A bizarre feeling of wrongness. It almost felt like-

Blake sat up again, ignored the pain in her body. She ripped the wires from her chest, tore out the IV. She stood, placing her bare feet down on the cold linoleum floor. She looked around and saw the door to a tiny bathroom.

She stumbled through the door, flicked on the light switch. She looked in the mirror. She had a massive black eye on the left side. It looked like it had been healing for a couple of days. A bandage was covering the top half of her head. It was too tight over her ears. They couldn't possibly fit beneath it. She reached up, and slowly began unraveling the bandage. Tears formed in her eyes as layer after layer fell away until the whole thing fell in a bundle at her feet. Sections of her hair had been shaved to allow for stitching. Where her ears had been there were only two scars, freshly stitched shut. She touched one of them. There was a twinge of pain, but something else. She could still feel it. It felt like something was still there, but it just... wasn't. Blake threw the lid of the toilet up and vomited. Most went into the toilet bowl, some dripped down the side. More followed, worsening the mess, then more after that. Eventually she was just dry heaving, bent over the bowl of sick. Her mouth tasted foul and her lungs burned.

A nurse came in, drawn by the monitors going crazy from being disconnected. She found Blake sitting on the bathroom floor, slumped against the wall, weeping. She helped her up, and led her back into bed, Blake almost comatose as the nurse pulled the blanket back over her. She stared at the ceiling, eyes blank but still leaking tears, as nurses reconnected the monitors, put in a fresh IV, and bandaged her head back up. When they were finished, one of the nurses called her name. She had to say it several times before Blake responded.

"Your team-members are outside. We can let them in if you want." She said.

Blake nodded.

The nurse left the room. A moment later, Ruby rushed through the door, followed by Weiss. Ruby had a look in her eyes like Blake had never seen. Weiss had a look of pained empathy. Ruby dashed over to Blake and leaped onto her bed, hugging Blake tightly. Weiss looked alarmed.

"Ruby, be gentle! She's still-"

"Oh, Blake!" Ruby wailed, "Oh Blake, we've been so worried! We've been here day in and day out, and we were just here half an hour ago, and they forced us to go down to the cafeteria to eat something, and then they called us right back and-"

Blake was hugging Ruby back, fighting back tears. She tried to speak a couple of times but nothing came out. Finally, she managed to make a sound.

"Ruby..."

Ruby rose up and looked Blake in the eyes.

"Yang... she told me... I don't..."

Tears quite suddenly came streaming from Ruby's eyes. Blake began crying with her. Weiss sat down in one of the chairs and covered her eyes, whimpering. They stayed like this for some time. When Ruby finally spoke, all three were still crying.

"I don't know what I'll do without her. My big sister. Somebody took her. And they almost took you, Blake. I'm barely holding on without Yang. I'd have died if I lost you too, Blake."

Weiss stood and hugged the two of them. More time passed.

Eventually, they found themselves sitting in silence, having finally stopped crying for now. Weiss was once again in her chair and Ruby sat at the edge of Blake's bed.

"What are you going to do, Ruby?" Blake asked, breaking the silence, "Are you leaving Beacon?"

"I'm going to spend some time with my father," Ruby answered, "But I'm coming back. How could I lose all my new friends after this?"

"What about you?" Weiss asked, "What you've gone through..."

Blake looked at Weiss, "I don't know. I don't know what I'm supposed to do next."

"Whatever you do, we'll be there for you," Ruby said, "If you leave, if you stay, no matter what, we'll be by your side."

"Thank you, Ruby."

"Blake... you should hear it from a friend," Weiss said, "The police have been pushing to question you. They questioned Ruby and I, but we didn't know anything, of course. They want to know what happened."

Everything flashed before Blake's eyes at once. The ambush, their Auras being disabled, the torture, one of the thugs taking Blake's sword and-

Blake trembled.

"We were attacked. We were tortured. Yang was murdered. What else do they need to know?" Blake asked.

Ruby looked at her with helpless concern.

"They don't know how your attackers died. They don't know who killed them, or how they did it."

Blake thought for a moment, then rubbed her forehead. She felt another twinge of pain from her scalp and withdrew her hand.

"I don't remember. I remember them dying. I don't remember how."

"I understand them being curious," Ruby said, "How could three people just... explode for no reason?"

Blake was silent and stared at the floor for a moment. Suddenly, Ruby's words hit her. She grabbed Ruby's shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"Three?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, "there were three bodies blown to pieces."

Blake burst up from the bed and, in a smooth motion, grabbed her IV stand and threw it across the room. The tube was ripped violently from her hand. The stand struck a window and shattered it. Blake swung and punched the wall beside her, putting a solid dent in the drywall. She turned to her friends, her eyes blazing with anger. Weiss stood with her hand over her mouth. Ruby looked terrified.

"There were four! There was a fourth guy there!" She screamed.

"Blake, Blake, please sit down." Weiss said, reaching a hand out.

Blake thrust her finger at Weiss forcefully, "Get your sword."

She moved her finger to Ruby, "Get your Scythe and all the ammo you have."

"Blake-" Ruby began.

"Blake, are you out of your mind? You're still recovering! You've been in a coma for three days! You can't fight now!"

"I didn't know what I was supposed to do. But that's because I thought those pieces of shit who murdered Yang were dead. If one of them is still out there, he has to pay. We're going to go find him right now. I'm going to find him, and I'm going to hurt him, and then I'm going to kill him."

As she finished this statement, she took a step forward, and her left leg abruptly gave out. She slumped to the floor. Ruby rushed to her side. Weiss sighed and hurried over to help. Blake was gritting her teeth, fresh tears appearing. She grabbed the edge of the bedside table to try and help lift herself up. Her knuckles were white.

Weiss placed and hand on either side of Blake's face, tilted her head up to look Blake in the eye.

"You haven't eaten in days," Weiss said, "You're injured. You're in shock. You are in no condition to fight."

"I need to. We need to. He has to pay." Blake whispered, her voice cracking and almost silent.

Weiss kept staring into her eyes, only a twitch of one eyelid to show that she was holding back more tears herself. Blake breathed heavily, closed her eyes, and heard Yang's voice.

_I'm not asking you to stop, I'm asking you to slow down._ Yang's words echoed through Blake's mind as clearly as if Yang were right there. Blake opened her eyes, looked up at Weiss. She looked at Ruby, who was struggling with all her might to lift Blake back to her feet.

Blake slowly worked herself to her feet. She climbed back into her bed. Weiss helped pull her blankets over her.

"Once I'm out of here, we find this guy." Blake said.

Weiss nodded, "Like Ruby said, we're by your side."

Blake glanced at Ruby. Ruby looked determined.

"I'll go see dad when my sister is avenged."

"Then I better get my strength back quickly. Can you get a nurse to bring me some food?" Blake asked Weiss.

"You're not eating hospital food!" Ruby declared, "I know what you need!"

She ran from the room. Blake and Weiss stared after her, confused. They exchanged few words waiting for her to return, Blake closing her eyes and almost dozing off, Weiss laying back in her chair, and resting her eyes. In ten minutes, Ruby returned, panting heavily and holding a package wrapped in paper, with a familiar smell emanating from it. Ruby unwrapped the package, revealing freshly grilled tuna, fresh from the fish market.

They ate together, talked, cried a bit more. But at the back of Blake's mind, she kept picturing Yang.

_I'm going to find him, Yang,_ She said to herself, _I'm going to make him suffer for what he did. And then I'm going to kill him._


	3. Chapter 3

Blake was sitting in a small, brightly lit room. The only furniture was the chair she sat in, the table in front of her, and another chair on the other side of it. There was what looked like a holo-emitter built into the table. The walls were cold, grey concrete. There was a large mirror that took up most of one wall. She could feel eyes on her from the other side of the glass. A ceiling fan spun lazily around above Blake's head. A wall clock just above the one door ticked away, minute after minute. A little red light on a video camera next to the mirror blinked on and off. Blake wondered why the police were making her wait in here so long, after their escalating insistence over the last few days that questioning her was an urgent matter.

Blake closed her eyes. Her hand wandered up to her head and touched one of her scars. The wound had closed completely now, and she no longer needed the bandage. Once she'd woken, she could keep her Aura up in order to boost her healing. She had almost completely recovered, physically, at least. She ran her finger along the raised line in her scalp, crisscrossed by stitches. She sighed.

_They didn't cut off who you are, Blake._ Yang's voice whispered.

Blake opened her eyes. Yang was leaning against the left wall, across from the one-way mirror, smiling. She was there, even though she wasn't. Blake could see her just as clearly as if she was real, even if she didn't see her physically. It was a weird sensation. Blake smiled back at her.

"What do you mean?"

_The part of you that's Faunus is more than just your ears. They can't take that away from you. With or without them, you're still my little kitten._

Blake didn't chuckle, so much as sharply blow a bit of air from her nose.

"I don't think you ever actually called me your "little kitten."

_Sounds like me, though, doesn't it?_

Blake didn't know if it was a bad sign that she was talking to what she knew was a hallucination. She didn't care either way, of course. Whether it was healthy or not, she wasn't going to let Yang go. One of the doctors had told her she should start grief counselling soon. She'd refused it. A counsellor would try to take away her pain, or her anger. If her pain was making her see Yang, she needed it. And one of Yang's killers was still on the loose, so she needed the anger too.

Yang walked over to the table, sat up on it, and looked down at Blake. Blake gazed up at her, the most beautiful thing Blake had ever seen. Her hair glowed with it's own light. Her eyes were glimmering gemstones. Her smile made Blake's heart feel warm, even though the whole world was cold. Blake's own personal goddess. She leaned over, placed a hand on the side of Blake's face, and touched her forehead to her's.

_Its okay, Blake, Its okay._

Tears welled in Blake's eyes "No, no, not again!"

_I love you, Blake._

Blake squeezed her eyes shut, but like blinding light Yang's image burned through her eyelids.

_Tell..._

"Yang, please!"

_Ruby..._

"No!"

_That..._

The sword exploded out of Yang's chest. She threw her head back and vomited blood. Blake screamed.

The heavy door to the room slammed shut and Blake's eyes snapped open. She almost fell out of the chair, but grabbed the edges of the table to steady herself. She was breathing heavily. The door had closed behind the room's newest occupant, a police officer holding a tray with two Styrofoam coffee cups and a small plate of donuts. He looked at her in surprise. He had a professional haircut and a thin mustache. He looked only about 10 years older than Blake. Blake stared back at him, trying to look relaxed and failing.

"Were you asleep?" The cop asked, "I'm sorry for the wait, I was out of the station when you got here and Oz- and I wanted to question- talk to you personally."

He set the tray down on the table and took a seat. Blake read his name tag, which identified him as Sheriff Auburn. She looked away from him, staring down at the table.

"Um, coffee?" The Sheriff asked, offering one of the Styrofoam cups. After an awkward moment in which Blake didn't acknowledge hearing him, he set the cup in front of her.

"Before we begin, I just want to tell you how sorry I am. For what happened to you, and now having to go through this, and... How are you feeling? are you feeling okay?"

Blake was rubbing her temples, "Oh, I'm doing just fine."

"Ah, uh... alright. Well, I just want you to know, if you feel uncomfortable with this in any way, we can stop. Just say the word and-"

"Have you found him yet?" Blake asked, not looking up.

"No. We got the message from your friends the day you woke up, we've been looking at connections to the other parties involved, looking for other gang members that all three knew, but we don't really have enough information. We were hoping you could help with that."

Blake didn't respond to this. After a moment, Auburn continued.

"We've identified the bodies at the scene. With your permission, I can show you mugshots. If you remember a face you don't see in the mugshots, you could provide a description of the fourth suspect."

Blake looked up. She sighed and picked up the coffee in front of her. She took a long sip from it.

"Let me stress that you don't have to look at them if you don't want to." Auburn added.

"Show me." Blake said.

Auburn switched on the holo-emitter and manipulated the UI. After navigating through a directory of folders, he opened a folder with three picture files. He hovered his finger over the first file.

"The first suspect is David Rouge." Auburn opened the picture, revealing a mugshot of a gruff, bearded man with yellow teeth and a wild look in his eye. Blake recognized him instantly. He had brought a pair of knuckledusters down on the back of her hand, cracking her bones against the armrest of the chair. Blake look away from the hologram.

Auburn looked at her with concern, "Are you okay?"

Blake nodded, and willed herself to look back.

"The next..." Auburn moved to the next file, "Is Kiiroi Taiyō. He has past offences with illegal Dust-weaponry. We believe he provided the Aura-neutralizing weapon you were hit with."

The man shown had a shaved head, numerous piercings and a tattoo covering his entire neck. Blake remembered him roughly grabbing her ear and drawing a long knife. He'd made a crack about making himself a necklace.

Blake got a glimpse of something she hadn't remembered before. An image pulled from deep within her mind of Kiiroi screaming as his skull came apart. She smiled ever so slightly.

"And this is Andre Pale. He was found with your weapon, ah, laying in what was left of him, so we theorize that he was the one who... well, we were hoping you could confirm."

Blake had been looking down at her coffee when he said this. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself to look at that face again. She looked up, squinted in confusion, and her jaw fell.

Yang's killer had stood over her body, looking with disinterest at Gambol Shroud as it dripped with blood.

"Not a terrible weapon, but not really my style to be honest." He'd chuckled.

"Make a good souvenir." Rouge said, before casually taking another bite of his sandwich.

"If I kept every weapon from every animal, I could open a shop," The killer laughed, "Or a museum. Or a museum with a shop."

A laugh passed around the room, which mixed with Blake's own wailing.

"Here, Andre." The killer said, passing the weapon to the man nearest to him, "Keep it, toss it, do something with it."

"Alright, boss," The man said. He took the sword and wiped some of the blood off with his sleeve, with mild disgust.

Blake burst out of her chair and slammed her hands down on the table, much to Auburn's surprise.

"He's still alive!" She shrieked. Auburn rushed around the table and tried to put a hand on her shoulder. She threw him off.

"I wanted him dead before. Everybody involved in Yang's death has to die. But he isn't just one of those pieces of shit, he's the killer! It's him!"

"The fourth suspect?" Auburn asked, "Please, Miss Belladonna, sit down."

She turned and grabbed him by the shirt.

"You took my sword as evidence. I need it back."

"Y- you know I can't possibly do that."

"I need it!"

"Look, I know your very emotional right now, you have a right to be, but-"

"I remember what he looks like now. I'll give you a description. But it won't matter. Because I'll find him first. But I need my sword."

A moment of silence passed. Blake continued to glare at Auburn. He sighed. He glanced over to the camera. Slowly, he removed Blake's hands, walked over to it, and clicked a button. The little red light stopped blinking. He thought for a moment, then hit another button, causing a high-pitched whirring noise.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked.

"Recording over what you just said. If you find him, you don't want there to be evidence of you saying that."

"Can you get me my sword, or not?" Blake asked. She didn't know why this cop would erase potential evidence against her, but as long as he was willing to help her, she didn't care.

"No. I'm sorry. Its under close surveillance in Evidence."

Blake considered this. She glanced at the one-way mirror.

"Look. I'll do what I can to help, off the record, and without doing anything explicitly illegal, but there are some things out of my reach."

"...Fine," Blake said, her voice clearly indicating it wasn't, "I'll find something else to kill him with. His weapon, maybe."

"Kid, you have got to stop saying things like that in here."

Blake sat back down. She reached over and grabbed her coffee. She tossed it back in one gulp.

"So, what's next?" She asked.

Auburn clicked another button on the camera. The whirring stopped, and the red light resumed it's blinking. He walked back over and took his own seat again. He closed down the image of Pale that was still being projected.

"Let's start with: What killed those men? What the Hell happened in that warehouse?"

Blake sighed, "I don't know. Yang was... killed, the killer handed my sword to the other guy, Pale, and then everything after that was a blur. The next thing I remember clearly was the room being covered in blood."

"Was there anybody else there? Could somebody have come in, killed them, and left?"

"I didn't see anybody."

Auburn was quiet, in thought. Rubbing his eyes, he took out his scroll and opened up his notes on the case.

"Let's take it from the top." He said. "Tell me everything that happened that night."


	4. Chapter 4

It was early evening, and Blake had only an hour or so earlier gotten out of the police station. Auburn had told her that the information she'd provided was extremely useful. He asked if she'd be willing to come back for more questioning if they found something in their investigation they thought she could shed light on. She'd agreed. She left them to their ineffectual pursuit, not caring if what she'd given them changed anything. She'd given them a week long head start and they'd gotten nowhere. It was no wonder law enforcement in Vale enlisted the help of Hunters and Huntresses so often.

Blake, Weiss, and Ruby were now walking down the street, taking the same path Blake and Yang had walked the night they were attacked. It seemed like so long ago now. They had been two carefree girls out for a night on the town, having fun, getting more than a little drunk. In the weeks since Mountain Glenn, and what many were now calling "The Great Breach Of Vale," Blake had found herself feeling happier than she'd been in a long time. With Torchwick in prison, a major attack by the White Fang stopped, and Team RWBY hailed as local heroes, there wasn't as much to be afraid of. Her past was still following her, but not as closely, and Blake had warmed to the notion that she could have a life not defined by running from it.

The plan for the night was to visit every bar, club, and store the two of them had been too. Some of them were well known gathering places for the local gangs. The chances of finding a Guardian that they could get information out of were slim, but it was worth trying. If they couldn't get a Guardian, some other gangster might prove to have useful information. The Guardians were infamous in Vale's underworld for their brutal attacks on Faunus.

It felt weird to Blake to be out looking for trouble without her weapon. She'd been carrying Gambol Shroud so long, she felt almost naked without it's weight on her back or the cold metal of it's grip in her hand. She didn't feel as comfortable with any other weapon, so until she got Gambol back, she would fight barehanded. Beside her, Weiss carried Myrtenaster, holding it at her hip but ready to bring it up to combat stance at a moment's notice. Weiss was clearly nervous, looking from shadow to shadow and avoiding eye contact with every pedestrian. Neighbourhoods like these were unfamiliar to Weiss, and Blake sympathized with her discomfort, though she didn't share it. This was the world Blake grew up in.

Ruby was walking more casually, with Crescent Rose collapsed into it's compact state and in it's resting place on her hip. Ruby's face was entirely neutral, she stared forward at the path in front of them with her eyes unfocused. Blake had been unable to get a read on what was going through Ruby's mind since her sister's death. She cried often, but otherwise seemed to be actively trying to hold on to her optimistic self. She would hold Blake or Weiss when they cried, doing her best to reassure them. She would reminisce about Yang, telling childhood stories of the two of them playing, or going on adventures in the woods. Every so often, there was something else. A hint of anger, and an eagerness to begin the hunt for the killer. But she seemed to be trying to hold it in. Sometimes Blake would catch her grimacing, or squeezing her fists tight without noticing, only for her to quickly snap out of it when noticed. It was amazing and baffling to Blake that anger was so foreign to the girl that she didn't want to partake in it even towards her sister's murderer.

As they walked, Ruby noticed that Blake was glancing down at her. She gave Blake a little smile, forced but not entirely empty, then looked forward with determination. As they rounded a corner, their first stop came into view. The Ice Castle was a rather upscale bar, catering more to Weiss's side of society than Blake's. Yang had insisted, to Blake's initial resistance, they go here so that Blake could try "this really fruity drink that I can't remember or pronounce the name of". They had each bought one, and shared a third.

The three of them stepped through the door, and paused momentarily for a tentative look around. Blake found herself hit by a pang of memory. She couldn't afford to be distracted right now, so she steeled herself.

"We don't need to be here long. They definitely didn't start tailing us from here, it's too upper-class, and we left almost two hours before the attack. Ruby, we shouldn't be here, its a waste of time."

As the official team leader, it had been Ruby who laid out the plan to retrace Blake and Yang's steps.

"No it's not," Ruby insisted, "We go everywhere you went, do everything you did. It'll be good. For the investigation, I mean."

"Alright," Blake said, "we sat right up at the bar."

The bar itself was clear glass and polished crystal. Beautifully designed, but a bit excessive, as if flaunting wealth. The stools were intricately designed to match the rest of the art style in the bar. As they approached, Ruby hopped up onto one of the seats. She placed her hands on the bar, and politely awaited service. The bartender came by, a young, well-groomed man in formal attire, the colour scheme also matching that of the interior decoration.

"What can I get... um, ma'am, I'm not sure you're old enough to be drinking, may I see some ID?"

"Nope, sorry. Strawberry martini, please." Ruby said.

"She'll have a water." Weiss said.

The bartender raised an eyebrow as he looked between Ruby and Weiss.

"I do have just the strawberry juice," He offered.

"Ooh, yeah, I'll take that," Ruby said, excitedly.

Blake sighed, again admiring Ruby's ability to be cheerful even in the face of everything. She looked around at the rest of the bar, the patrons. Well-dressed, proper upper-class folk. No tattoos, no piercings other than in the ear, no threatening glares in response to being looked at. A woman walked past her, no older than Blake herself. She had blonde pigtails and wore a pink combat skirt. There was a bladed revolver held to her side with a ribbon. As she passed by, Blake noticed the revolver's hammer wasn't on a hinge, but was rigidly attached to the rest of it. The weapon was decorative.

Blake turned back to the bar, shaking her head. This place was a waste of time.

"Hey," she called to the bartender, "Straight rum, no ice."

She sat at the nearest unoccupied table with her drink. She gulped rum for a few minutes, then looked over at Ruby. She was drinking her juice and talking animatedly with Weiss. For a moment, Blake wondered if she was being selfish. She'd been focusing so much on her own pain. She'd been fantasizing so much about finding Yang's killer and all the things she was going to do to him before he died, and she had barely acknowledged that Ruby had equal cause to want vengeance. And here was Blake, irritated at the girl who'd lost her sister for holding up her quest for revenge.

Blake rose, grabbed her drink, and went over to Ruby. She sat down next to her. Ruby was in the middle of telling Weiss about when Yang and herself first brought home Zwei. Weiss was laughing. With some effort, Blake forced herself to smile. Weiss saw this and smiled back, clearly happy to see it. Blake downed the rest of her rum, and looked around. She glanced to her right, and her eyes widened a little. There was Yang, sitting in the seat next to her, opposite Ruby. She was sipping on a straw from one of those weird, fruity drinks. She smiled at Blake and winked.

* * *

><p>Lie Ren was leaning against a brick wall in a poorly-lit alley in a substantially less prestigious part of town. Team JNPR was one of the many teams at Beacon who were dredging Vale for anyone who might be connected to the now infamous attack. When Ozpin had made the announcement to the school that one of their own had been killed, many of the students had immediately begin preparing their weapons, coordinating with each other to sweep the city and find the perpetrators. Ozpin had been very clear to his students how they should respond.<p>

"It is only natural for us to feel some volatile desire for justice," Ozpin had said, to a few shouts of agreement from the crowd, "But I want to warn you all of rash decision-making. Though it is quite possible that the vile attackers responsible for this are connected to a larger network, the so-called "Guardians", their pursuit and persecution should be left to Vale's police force, who will exact justice with slow, but steady methodology. I expect you all to honour our fallen Sister-In-Arms as should be expected from Huntsmen and Huntresses. Remember, you are the defenders of Humanity against all threats. That is all."

JNPR had been the first team to hit the streets. Over a dozen teams were patrolling by the end of that day.

Across the alley from Ren was a small door of dull, grey steel. It was the back exit to a pub frequented by the sort that JNPR was looking for. Inside, Ren heard the muffled sounds of a scuffle. Something hard crashed against a wall, some glass shattered. There were a few clangs of metal on metal. Somebody screamed. Ren raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't move. The door burst open, and a man stumbled out, breathing heavily and looking very scared. He wore the colours of a local gang called the Playing Cards. He stumbled towards Ren.

"Help! You- you gotta help!" He cried, "She's crazy!"

He reached out to grab hold of Ren to support himself. Instead, with a fluid motion, Ren batted his hand aside and uppercutted him. The guy flew into the air, did a complete flip, and landed face down on the pavement. Ren casually dusted off his knuckles and leaned back again.

"Yeah," He said, "Ain't that the truth."

Nora Valkyrie emerged from the door, resting her hammer on her shoulder and smiling brightly. She gave the guy on the ground a dismissive glance, then waved animatedly at Ren.

"Hey Ren!" She said, "I found somebody who might know something!"

Ren grinned, "Yeah, I saw. Was he alone?"

"Nope! His friends are about to attack me from behind!"

Ren gave her a quizzical look, "You going to turn around?"

She shrugged, "Nah."

There was a loud, painful-sounding thud, and Nora stepped to one side as another Playing Card came flying out the door, hitting the ground and curling into the fetal position in pain. Jaune Arc casually strode out, collapsing his shield and putting it on his back. Nora turned to him, smiling, and held out her fist. Jaune raised his own fist and bumped it against hers. Pyrrha Nikos joined them a few seconds later, casually swinging her Javelin around her hand in it's collapsed state.

"Did you get the last guy?" Jaune asked her.

"Not yet," She said. The last thug suddenly appeared in the doorway, brandishing a pistol. He put it to the back of Pyrrha's head. Pyrrha extended her javelin and the end of it struck him directly in the crotch. He keeled over, and she swung her shield behind her without looking. It clanged against his head, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Got him," She reported, with a grin.

"I sure hope the Guardians have more to offer than these chumps," Jaune chuckled.

"There's no way punks like this could beat Yang and Blake," Pyrrha agreed, "We shouldn't get cocky. The Guardians will be a lot more challenging than these guys."

Ren reached down to the guy still laying face down on the ground, dragged him to his feet, and slammed him against the brick wall. He was barely conscious, so Ren gave him a slap to focus him. Nora walked up and stood just behind Ren, smiling at him. The thug looked at Nora with utter terror in his eyes.

"Hi there!" Nora said, "We'd like to ask you about some people we're looking for. I'd really, really appreciate if you refused to talk, because then Ren will let me use _Magnhild_ here to coax an answer out of you!"

Pyrrha and Jaune glanced at each other, both smiling.

"I'll talk!" The thug said, quickly, "I don't know much but I swear I'll tell you everything!"

Nora's head sunk a little. Ren turned his head to her and whispered, "Maybe next time."

"You guys are looking for the Guardians, right?" The guy said, looking between them, "I- I heard the blonde kid say Guardians, right?"

"You heard right," Jaune said, doing his best to act tough.

"Right, I know what this is about!" The thug said, smiling nervously and nodding, "This is about the dead girl and the animal that-"

The guy caught himself, and squeezed his mouth shut, a little too late. Nora brought her free hand up and gripped _Magnhild_'s handle, her smiling fading.

"Please, Ren?" She asked.

"Tell us where to find the Guardians." Ren ordered the guy, coldly.

"Alright, alright. Look, you're not going to find them just walking around the streets, okay? They stay behind the scenes. They supply the Playing Cards with drugs, black market Dust, stuff like that. They're suppliers for a whole bunch of different gangs in Vale, I think. Its how they make money without exposing themselves."

"So where do we find them?" Pyrrha demanded.

"I don't know!" The thug said, "I've never even met one! They deliver stuff to us with dead drops. Always different places, only calling us to tell us where to get it. There's only one time when they show themselves to anybody, and that's to attack Faunus!"

"Why?" Nora, asked, "Why would they want to hurt people who didn't do anything to them?"

"Listen, don't get me wrong, I do not like the shit the Guardians do. My bosses work with them 'cause its good money, but those people are monsters. They're worse than Grimm. Is it true they cut the cat-girl's ears off?"

There was a moment of silence. Nora nodded.

"Look, I'm so, so sorry that-" The guy began.

"Save it." Ren said, "What else do you know."

"Nothing." The guy said, then noticed Nora stepped forward, "I swear that's everything! On my mother's grave!"

Ren tossed him aside, "Get out of here." He ordered.

The thug ran off. Team JNPR looked to each other, looked down at the thugs still unconscious on the ground, then walked out of the alley.

"What's our next move, Jaune?" Asked Pyrrha.

"Call team RWBY, tell them we got something." Jaune said, "Get in touch with some of the other teams, too. What we're doing right now isn't going to work. We need to strategize."


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a long, tiring night for Team RWBY, and they had precious little to show for it. They'd revisited nearly every place Blake and Yang had been and turned up not a hint of the Guardians. They had spent a short time in each location, and Blake had found herself increasingly flooded with emotions and memories. Not memories of pain and suffering, but memories of her last happy moments with Yang. Drinking at The Ice Castle, drinking more and singing a duet at a karaoke bar, dancing at a club called The Tarantella. Blake held on to these memories with a strange duality. Her heart felt warm just thinking about sharing those laughs with Yang, yet it ached with the knowledge that it would never happen again. Fading memories were all that remained of her. The images in her mind now shone as bright as the sun, as bright as the golden hair of her goddess, but time would wear them down. Someday they would be no more than a dull glow in a void of darkness, and no light would ever replace them.

Before they finished their route, Team JNPR had called them. They'd had some luck and scored some information. They were calling everybody back to Beacon to organize and form a new plan. Blake was grateful not just for their breakthrough, but for their interruption.

The last place on their route had been one Blake was dreading returning to. It had been somewhere Ruby had been very insistent they shouldn't go. Blake had, with forced determination hiding inner terror, demanded it in the name of thoroughness. But as they got closer and closer, her fear gnawed its way out from within. That lonely, dark stretch of street where they were first attacked. They had been so drunk, both on alcohol and on each other, that they'd let their guard down. They were both laughing, Yang leaning against Blake for support at they walked. With no warning, horrific pain had shot through Blake's body. A knife had entered her lower back to one side, near her kidneys. Though she didn't know at the time, the knife's edge had been made of a carefully carved Dust crystal. An explosion of energy, generated by a complicated and precisely-designed series of smaller crystals set in the blade, had traveled through the knife and into her body, temporarily frying her aura. It was an incredibly painful sensation. Yang had only managed to stumble backwards a step, turning to face the attacker in confusion before another Dust blade was thrust into her side, just below the ribs. Yang had shrieked in pain, and had swung her fist at the man, but he caught it in his hand and stopped it dead. Blake's own attempt to whirl around and strike was cut short by a hard punch to the temple. Unaccustomed to taking a hit with no Aura, Blake had been knocked senseless. Yang had looked at her own fist in confusion, then swung again with her other hand. This he caught as well. A man appeared behind her, that same scarred face that Blake had been seeing in her dreams. The killer. The monster. He reached his hand around Yang and jabbed a syringe into her neck. Yang had gasped in surprise and fallen unconscious. Their attackers then grabbed the both of them roughly- Blake wasn't injected with anything, but was quickly handcuffed and had a bag pulled over her head- and dragged them to a waiting van.

It was these memories that made Blake appreciative of the excuse to not return there. The teams of Beacon gathered in one of the training rooms. Jaune had reported JNPR's findings, and they all discussed their next move. Blake was mostly silent in this debate.

"We can't just take out every single gang they supply," Ren had said, "We'd be making more enemies, without getting any closer to the ones we want."

"I'm not saying every gang," Cardin Winchester replied, "Just a few. Show these assholes we're not a threat they can just ignore."

There were shouts of agreement. Team CRDL had, among all the teams, been the least subtle in its use of violence in the search for the Guardians. Cardin had been vocal about his disgust towards those responsible for the attack. He seemed intent on sending a message to his fellow students that, asshole or not, he had a sense of justice, and he would not allow the murder of a fellow Huntsman or Huntress to go unpunished.

"There are better ways to do that," Velvet Scarlatina declared, "CVFY has been looking into locally owned shipping companies, and storage facilities, looking for fronts. We can find-"

"No, no, no," Cardin interrupted, "This isn't a criminal investigation, its a war! We want to find them, we need to start knocking down the people they're hiding behind!"

The conversation went on like this, and didn't get much of anywhere. The general agreement at the end of the night was that the hunt for information was still on, with different teams planning very different methods.

Blake was now in the bathroom, finding herself once again staring hard at her own reflection. She just couldn't get over how _wrong_ she looked without her ears. Her bow had been abandoned at the warehouse and she'd gone without it since. Her eyes had deep bags underneath them. She realized that she needed sleep, but she was hesitant. Whenever she slept, she saw it happen again. Those last moments. The unfinished final request that Blake would never be able to fulfill. She wondered if seeing it over and over might eventually make her lose her mind. Maybe she had lost it already.

Blake exited the bathroom, walked down the hall to Team RWBY's room, and slipped in quietly. It was late, and Weiss and Ruby were already in bed. She closed the door, then stripped down to her underwear. She dropped her clothes to the floor, not caring where they landed. Zwei, who had been curled up underneath Ruby's bed, stood up on his stubby little legs, walked over and sniffed at the clothes. Blake stared down at him, blankly. He looked up at her, and tilted his head, an empathetic look in his eyes. He waddled a little closer and sniffed at one of her bare feet. She nervously withdrew her foot at first, but then set it back down. He licked her calf. Blake sighed, and then climbed into her bunk. Zwei whimpered, then curled up on top of Blake's abandoned clothes.

Blake lay in bed, her head resting on one pillow and another squeezed tightly in her arms. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. The room was filled with a deafening silence. The only sound was the voices bouncing around in Blake's head. Blake tried to put them out of her thoughts, but they persisted. Without the slightest warning, tears began falling from Blake's eyes. She felt like she might scream. She imagined running out into the Emerald Forest where nobody would hear her, and simply screaming and screaming until she lost her voice. She was just about to start getting up, when there was suddenly a soft _thump o_n the mattress behind her. She felt a small, soft arm reach around her and hug her from behind.

"Ruby?" Blake asked, in a whisper.

"Hi, Blake," Ruby's voice said from behind her. The girl pulled herself tight against Blake.

"Didn't want to sleep alone?" Blake asked.

"When my Mom died, Yang and I spent a lot of nights curled up in bed together. We helped each other through it. I felt a little safer in her arms, and when I woke up from a bad dream, she was there next to me."

Blake held in a whimper.

"She was... it was like..." Ruby trailed off, unable to articulate her thoughts.

"Like the entire world was cold, but she was warm?" Blake suggested.

"...Yeah. That's exactly it." Ruby said, "I miss her so much."

Me too, kiddo," Blake said, "me too."

They lay there, in silence for some time. Blake felt a little better with Ruby next to her. The pain was still there, but dulled. She let Ruby's embrace lull her into into docility. She had stopped crying, though there was still a small wet spot on the pillow next to her cheek. She let her eyes slip shut and started to drift off.

"Blake?" Ruby whispered, "Are you sleeping?"

"...No," She answered, "What is it?"

Ruby was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"Can I ask you something? About you and Yang?"

Blake opened her eyes, she glanced over her shoulder, "You can ask me anything, Ruby."

Again, Ruby was silent for a long time.

"Did you and Yang ever have sex?" She whispered, finally.

Blake was slightly taken aback, "What?"

"Its okay if that's personal," Ruby was quick to say, "And I don't mean to sound as if that would be a problem, you know, if you did. I wouldn't have any reason to have a problem. But..."

"I... no, Ruby." Blake said, "We never had sex."

"...oh."

There was another few seconds of silence.

"Why do you ask?" Blake said, "If you don't mind me asking?"

"Its... its stupid," Ruby said, "Its just, you made her happy, you know? Most people would think Yang was never not happy, but I lived with her for years, and she was never as happy as she was with you."

Blake held in another outburst of tears.

"And... I thought... I mean, I knew she was a virgin when she started at Beacon, and if you two never did it then I guess she never... And it made me sad to think she never shared that with somebody who made her so happy."

Silence.

Is... is that weird? Is it weird for me to think about that?"

Blake opened her mouth to reassure her, but couldn't make a noise. She squirmed around to face Ruby, and squeezed her tight.

Weiss lay awake in her bunk, listening to the two of them talk. Weiss had spent the week since Yang's death trying to hold on to her emotions. She'd known people who'd died before, but never one she'd connected to on such an emotional level as Yang. Yang's boundless energy and friendliness had had a huge part in convincing Weiss to believe in this team, and feel she was a part of it. Her death pained Weiss greatly. She hadn't been Weiss's sister or lover, but she was a close friend. Weiss's upbringing had taught her of an importance in maintaining one's composure. To keep her feelings on the inside. She had failed to do that many times over the past week.

Blake felt Ruby shifting in her arms, and she opened her eyes and looked down at her. Ruby's eyes were open, slightly red from tears. She looked back at Blake.

"Yang... she wanted me to tell you something." Blake whispered.

"What?" asked Ruby.

"I don't know. I don't... she never got to finish. I was in that chair, those... those fucking monsters dragged her over to me and put her on her knees. She told me she loved me, then she started to tell me to tell you something and then... and that's when..."

Ruby hugged Blake tighter than ever, tucking her head under Blake's chin. Blake had been holding these words in for a long time. Now all of her emotion and pain began spilling out all at once.

"I still hear her, Ruby! I keep hearing her say those words as clearly as you can hear me now! But I never hear her finish because then I see her die again!"

Blake was no longer whispering. She was crying out, screaming her agony at the world. Weiss listened, her heart hurting. She felt her stomach turning over, at first feeling like sympathy pain but getting worse.

"Over and over, I see her getting run through!" Blake cried, "and I can't stop it! I couldn't save her and every time I see her die I feel like I failed her all over again! It was my fault she was there! They were after me! They murdered her just to hurt me!"

Weiss suddenly realized the uneasy feeling wasn't emotional. Something was turning her stomach, something that was permeating the entire room. Weiss realized that the beds were shaking. They weren't moving much, but they absolutely were being shook by something. Zwei was awake, looking around the room and whimpering.

"I'm going to find him, Ruby! I'm going to kill him!" Blake almost screamed, "Because I can't see Yang without seeing her die, and I don't know how I know, but I know it won't stop until he's dead!"

There was a sudden burst of movement in the room. Weiss actually felt the position of her bed shift slightly. Weiss's scroll exploded where it sat on the desk in the corner. An apple on a side table next to Weiss's bed burst apart. The light bulb in the night light that Ruby insisted the room have shattered violently. All at once, the movement stopped and the room was quiet again. Weiss looked around the room, her eyes wide, jaw hanging wide open.

"Oh, Blake," Ruby cried, "Blake... Blake, are you okay?"

Weiss looked over to Ruby, who was looking at Blake in concern. She was glad it was dark, or Ruby would see her look of utter terror.

"Is- is she okay?" Weiss asked.

"She's asleep," Ruby said, "She just passed out."

Weiss put her face in her hands, as what had just happened started to sink in.

"What was that noise?" Ruby asked, "Did you break something?"

"Its fine, everything's fine," Weiss said, very much lying, "Go to sleep, Ruby."

Ruby seemed to look around in the darkness, then slowly laid back down. Weiss crept about the room, cleaning up the mess as quietly as she could. As she hid the remains of the light bulb and the scroll (Zwei licked up the bits of apple on the floor), she couldn't stop herself from glancing towards Blake's sleeping form, and feeling very uneasy. And more than a little scared.


	6. Chapter 6

Freeman's Cross-Vytal Shipping was a small shipping company which based itself in a large building on the edge of Vale's industrial district. It was privately owned, and nothing out of the ordinary was immediately visible on their shipping records. It took a keen eye to notice the profit margins didn't quite add up as they should, and a keener one to count more trucks of merchandise travelling into the building then reported on the records. After more than a week, attacking Vale's underworld in a blind search for clues had turned up nothing. But with the cunning to use more subtle methods of hunting the Guardians, Team CVFY had lead the Hunters of Beacon to what they believed was indeed a front for the Guardians' drug business. Blake had insisted that herself, Ruby, and Weiss be the ones to assault the place, and none had argued.

The three of them now stood on the sidewalk, studying their target. It was a large, grey, uninteresting building. There seemed to be more guards patrolling the perimeter than would be necessary. There were a few trucks parked outside, and one sitting outside the loading dock, with employees moving back and forth from it, unloading crates. The driver of the truck was leaning against the brick wall, having a smoke. There were two floors, few windows, and little lighting, outside at least. The three Huntresses took in each detail, deciding on the best way to attack.

"Alright, team," Ruby said, confidently, "We slip in through that side-door there, where its poorly lit. Take out guards quietly as possible, eliminating as many as we can before they realize we're there. If we're caught, we can probably take them, but stick together, and fight as a team."

"Good plan," Weiss said, "Blake? What do you think?"

"We don't know if this is the right place," Blake said, staring ahead, "We need to confirm these scumbags are Guardians as soon as possible."

"Right, I thought of that," Ruby said, nodding, "We take 'em down non-lethally until we're sure they're who we think they are. We can keep fighting non-lethally afterwards, too, of course..."

"I'll pass," Blake said, "Its about time somebody paid for Yang's death."

"Blake," Weiss said, "We're still Huntresses. We kill if we need to, but we shouldn't do it brazenly."

Blake turned and stared at Weiss, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Weiss asked, after an uncomfortable moment passed.

"Is there something you aren't telling me, Weiss?" Blake asked.

"I... honestly don't know what you mean." Weiss answered.

"You've been acting weird around me all day," Blake said, "Almost like you're scared. Is there something I should know?"

"No," Weiss told her, "I'm just... worried about you."

Blake considered this, then shook her head and turned back to the warehouse.

"Be worried about them. Let's do this."

They waited until the only guard who had a sight line on them went around a corner, then dashed across the street. There was a chain-link fence around the property. Ruby and Blake both leapt over it without effort, Weiss used a glyph to assist her own jump. They dashed across the pavement, around the side of the building, and stopped at the metal door they'd agreed upon. They gave a quick look around to make sure they hadn't been seen, then turned their attention to the door. It had a rather large lock next to the handle.

"Does anybody have any lockpicks?" Weiss jested.

"Yeah, I do," Ruby answered.

She deployed Crescent Rose, spun it, and stabbed the tip of the blade between the lock and the door frame. She hooked onto something and pulled, ripping the door open. She collapsed Crescent Rose and returned it to her belt in a fluid motion. She gave a small grin of satisfaction. Blake smiled and gave her a nod of approval, then she crept through the door. Ruby and Weiss followed. They got a few steps in when Blake waved a hand to stop them. She heard the sound of somebody approaching from around the corner at the end of the short hallway.

"What was that?" A voice called out, "Jerry, did you break something again, or-"

The guard stepped around the corner and his eyes fell on the three of them. Blake had already took off running. She ran up the wall on the opposite side of the hallway from the corner the guard had appeared from. She pushed off the wall, spun through the air, and met the guard's face with her foot. He flew backwards, slammed his head against the wall behind him, and went down.

"Nicely done," Weiss said, as she and Ruby rushed to Blake's side.

Blake leaned over the unconscious guard, and pulled up his sleeves one by one. She checked his arms for tattoos, but found nothing. Frustrated, she ripped open the front of his shirt, sending a few buttons flying. His chest was clean, too. She glanced over her shoulder at her team-mates, looking annoyed.

"That doesn't mean anything," Ruby said, "Keep moving."

They snuck down the hall, further into the building. They came to a corner, which Blake carefully peered around. A guard was walking down the hall away from them, oblivious. Blake turned to the others.

"I've got this one," Ruby said.

She bolted around the corner, used her semblance to speed up behind the guard, and put her momentum into a kick to the back of one knee. He yelped in surprise as he stumbled to his knees. Ruby deployed her Scythe, keeping the blade turned inward so that the weapon was more of a giant hook, which she wrapped around the guard's neck and twisted. He was pulled backward and fell against the ground. Ruby brought her foot down hard on his forehead, knocking him out. Blake wasted no time in rushing up and checking his arms. Nothing.

"Some of these guys might just be employees," Weiss offered, "Maybe they don't know who they're working for."

There was a staircase up to the second floor. The three of them traveled up. There was another short hallway that ended in a door labelled "Break Room". A few voices could be heard talking and laughing inside. Clearing the room stealthily would probably be very hard. Blake crept up to the door, and put an ear to the door. Weiss and Ruby crouched against the wall behind her.

"-all over the city looking for us," Came one of the voices inside the room, "Not like I'm afraid of a bunch of punk kids, but its not good for business if they're attacking our business partners."

"Bunch of traitors, if you ask me," Another voice said, "They're supposed to be the defenders of Humanity, and they're fighting in the name of some animal."

"Its worse than that, man," The first voice again, "That school takes in those freaks. Trains them as warriors, like they're people. Like they're preparing the animals for the next time they rise up."

Blake turned to Weiss and Ruby, a satisfied grin on her face.

"We're definitely in the right place," She said.

"Alright, go live. Give them everything." Ruby said, deploying Crescent Rose. Weiss drew Myrtenaster and gave its chamber a spin. Blake almost reached for her sword, then rolled her eyes in irritation. She stood and kicked the door next to the handle. It went flying open, revealing four guys, all reacting in surprise. Weiss quickly leaned around Blake and extended her sword forward. She fired a volley of Dust blasts into the room. Two of their opponents went flying, and the other two dove for cover. There was a table in the room right next to the door. Blake jumped, repelled off the table, spun and kicked out the lighting fixture in the room's centre, plunging the room into darkness. Blake could see perfectly, while her enemies stumbled around blind. She leapt at the nearest one, kicked him in head, and repelled off, spinning towards the next guy. He was drawing a hook-sword. She flew past him, snatching the weapon deftly from his hand. She swung it and slashed a third opponent as he was trying to recover from Weiss's attack. His aura was shattered, but protected him from a lethal wound.

Ruby flew into the room, Crescent at the ready. The razor sharp blade was now deployed. She wrapped it around one thug's waist, spun around him until a shot was lined up and fired, striking another in the chest. The thug she'd shot flew backwards and slammed into the wall. The one she'd hooked she sent flying in the opposite direction, clutching at the grievous wound in his stomach.

One opponent remained standing; the one that Blake had taken the sword from. She dashed up behind him, wrapped the large hook-shaped blade around his neck, and fired the gun built into the hilt, pulling the blade backwards. To Blake's surprise, the sword didn't pull him backwards. It cleaved cleanly through his neck, decapitating him. His head tumbled to the ground. His body slumped to its knees, then fell forward, gushing blood from the stump of his neck. Blake's face was splattered in his blood. She looked at the hook-sword in shock. Ruby and Weiss both stared down at the corpse, stunned.

"He must have-" Weiss said, stumbling over her words, "Must have not had a very powerful aura."

Blake looked down at the body and grimaced.

"Well," She said, "One down."

The wall of the break room opposite the door they'd stormed through had a large plate glass window. On the other side was a balcony that overlooked the unloading area of the warehouse. The guards down there had definitely heard the commotion upstairs. A voice came through a radio on one of the unconscious thugs' belts.

"Guys, what's going on up there?" The voice said, nervously, "Somebody answer me!"

Ruby glanced out the window and smirked, getting an idea. She switched Crescent's blade inwards again, then wrapped it around the wounded guard, who was still writhing on the ground. She fired, using the recoil to swing her scythe around and throw him clear through the window, sending him flying over the balcony and plunging to the floor below amidst a rain of broken glass. Shouts of surprise could be heard. In unison, Blake, Ruby and Weiss charged across the room, leapt through the window, vaulted over the railing of the balcony and dove into the group of terrified Guardians below.

Blake through the hook-sword as she fell. It hooked around one Guardian's neck and sent him falling backwards. She landed atop another opponent and immediately vaulted off him as he crashed to the ground. Ruby switched her weapon to rifle-mode, boosted her jump with a downward blast, then used her speed to whip from one enemy to another, blasting each of them point-blank as she repelled off of them. Weiss landed gracefully, firing a blast of Dust into the nearest guard's face as she did so. A Guardian behind her raised a wrist-mounted rocket launcher and fired at her. She pointed Myrtenaster backwards over her shoulder and placed a glyph behind her. The rocket bounced off the glyph and was sent careening into another Guardian. He was sent flying backwards from the explosion. Weiss whipped around and fired another blast, aimed directly at her attacker's weapon. It struck at the exact moment he fired and the weapon exploded violently. The Guardian's arm had quite suddenly been reduced to a bloody mess that ended at the elbow. He stared stupidly at the stump before falling over. Weiss permitted herself the briefest moment to be shocked before she was attack from her left by another attacker with a large meat cleaver.

Meanwhile, Blake was dodging and weaving between attacks from four different opponents armed with swords. She ducked beneath one swing, leapt over another, and snatched one of the swords from a third enemy's hands. She slashed at the knees of the Guardian to her right, vaulted over his head and he stumbled, and slashed the arm of the guy behind him, causing him to drop his weapon. She spun, kicking him across the head as she swung at the next one. Their swords clashed off each other. She quickly riposted with a light jab to his side, throwing him out of his combat stance. She thrust her sword and stabbed it right through his lower body, just above the hip. He screamed and fell backward, and she abandoned the sword. Ruby came flying past her and knocked out the guy behind her. Their enemies were falling swiftly one after another. It was all going so well.

Weiss was parrying swing after swing from the Guardian with the cleaver, but he was attacking so fast she couldn't counter. A huge thug with a hammer came running in through the open loading door, and Ruby rushed to engage him. Blake continued snatching weapons, throwing them, dodging attacks. One Guardian leapt at her, wielding two huge combat knives. She dodged his first slash and slipped behind him. Before she could strike his back, he whipped around with a second attack. She back-stepped just as he thrust, barely missing her. He was already going in for another strike. He was much faster than the others. Blake backflipped, snatching a scimitar off the ground as she did so. She tossed it into the air right in front of her opponent's face to ctach him off guard, then shot forward with a punch aimed at his groin. Without slowing down, he slashed the scimitar aside and then swiped at her arm, slicing into her wrist. Blake cried out in surprise and withdrew. The Guardian took a fighting stance, and grinned at her, savagely.

"Come on, bitch," He goaded, "Is that all you got?"

Blake smirked back at him, then rushed forward. She didn't take a fighting stance, instead leaving herself exposed. It was a simple matter of placing a Shadow as she back-stepped, then countering him while he was still uselessly attacking thin air. He started thrusting, and Blake stopped abruptly to skid to a halt. Concentrating, she triggered her Semblance to place an image of herself directly in front of her. Nothing happened. Blake's eyes widened. The Guardian's knife was inches from her torso. She willed another Shadow to appear that she could use to boost herself backwards. Nothing appeared. She'd been using Shadows all her life, she could create them effortlessly. How could it not work. She panicked, stumbled, and felt the knife plunge into her gut.

She screamed in pain. She could feel the blade scraping her lowest rib as it sliced through her. The Guardian grabbed her shoulder with his other hand, and added more force to the knife, pushing it further in. Blake cried out, sending blood flying from her mouth and splattering the Guardian's face. He smiled, wild-eyed, and twisted the blade. A short distance away, Ruby had been mid-flip, dodging a swing of the giant thug's hammer. She saw Blake standing there, stunned, with a knife stabbed into her stomach, and cried out.

"Blake! No!" She yelled, landing on her feet.

In her distraction, she didn't react to her opponent's attack. He struck her across the head with the end of the hammer's handle, disorienting her. Then her brought the hammer around with a mighty swing, firing a rocket thruster in the head to add momentum, and struck her in the chest. Ruby went flying through the air, slamming into a wall hard enough to crack it, then tumbled to the floor, aura depleted and barely conscious. Weiss turned from her fight and called out to Ruby. Blake attempted to raise an arm and warn Weiss, but she couldn't make a sound. Instead, she watched the Guardian behind Weiss bring his meat cleaver down and bury it in her shoulder. Weiss shrieked, and fell to her knees.

The man who'd stabbed Blake ripped his knife from her. Blake collapsed to the ground, spilling blood. Even in her agony, she struggled to understand what had gone wrong. The Guardian wiped the blood from the blade of his knife on his pants, and looked down at Blake, almost disappointed.

"So pathetic," He sighed.

The half-dozen or so Guardians who were alive and in one piece slowly got back to their feet, and dusted themselves off. Ruby and Weiss both had guns levelled at their heads. Blake was lifted up to her knees. She was barely aware what was happening. Everything was blurry, and slowly getting darker. She could still feel blood pouring out of her. She could just make out Weiss and Ruby being dragged over, and put on their knees next to her. The man who'd stabbed her crouched down in front of her, and grinned.

"Hey there, cutie," He said, with a laugh," My name's Tomas, and I'm with the Guardians. I heard you and your friends at that wacko school were looking for us. Well, here we are."

"F- fu- fuh you," Blake managed to whisper.

"Sorry, didn't catch that," He said, standing back up and looking at the three Huntresses, "Jack's gonna be real happy to see us when we bring him your heads. He's starting to get real pissed off at you kids stirring shit up, looking for us. Reckon he'll put out a reward for every dead Hunter pretty soon."

Weiss was breathing heavily. She mustered up enough strength to spit on Tomas's boots. The guardian standing behind her cocked his shotgun. Tomas didn't react. Blake could barely keep her eyes open. All she could see was a blur of black and grey. Then suddenly, a bright burst of yellow light. She forced her eyes open, and there was Yang, crouched on the ground in front of her, tears in her eyes.

"Think we should bring 'em in alive?" The hammer-thug asked, "Might be fun to torture a bit."

"You know the rules, no torturing humans," Tomas said, "Besides, they just killed a few of us, they're too dangerous."

"Y- yang..." Blake whispered. Yang reached forward and wrapped her in a hug.

"Its okay, Blake, its okay." She soothed, stroking Blake's back.

"Just kill them right here," Tomas said, looking between them, disinterested, before stopping at Ruby.

"Please," Ruby begged, "Don't do this!"

Blake looked over to Ruby helplessly. Yang was squeezing Blake tightly.

"I love you, Blake," She whispered.

"Wait," Tomas said, looking down at Ruby. There was something disgusting in the look he gave Ruby.

"Just kill the other two," He said.

A Guardian stepped up behind Blake and raised a revolver to the back of her head. At that moment, she realized she was going to die. She'd lead her whole team to their deaths, and Yang would never be avenged. More of her friends would die attempting to avenge them. It was all her fault. She broke into tears, the searing pain in her gut being overshadowed by her grief. Yang rocked her back and forth. The Guardian behind Weiss pressed his shotgun to her temple and Weiss squeezed her eyes shut.

"Yang, I'm so sorry," Blake whispered. She didn't notice the Guardian behind her had started sweating, wincing from a growing pain in his gut. Some of the other Guardians were doubling over, too.

Yang began speaking those words again, "Tell Ruby that-"

The room was suddenly shook by an almost inhuman shriek from Blake. Tomas whipped around stared at Blake. Weiss opened her eyes and turned to her, eyes wide in horror. Blake's eyes snapped open, looking very different from usual. Both of her eyes had turned entirely black. Two voids of indescribable darkness that seemed to impossibly glow black light. Blake's face had gone from twisted in anguish to a blank, steely determination.

"S-Shoot her!" Tomas ordered.

Doubled over, with one hand clutching his gut, the Guardian raised his revolver to Blake's head. The revolver suddenly blew to pieces in his hands. All the others raised their weapons in a panic, only for them to blow apart as well. Blake stood up, ignoring the wound in her gut still leaking blood. She turned to the man behind her. She waved her hand at him, palm out. His entire body abruptly blew apart, sending a shower of blood and guts across the room. Everybody cried out in horror. Ruby screamed. Weiss was spattered with the shredded remains of some internal organ and gagged. Blake turned to the other Guardians, he hair being blown about by some phantom wind. She waved her arm again and two of them exploded. Tomas stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. The other two dashed for the door.

"Where are you running?" Blake roared, "You're all going to die here!"

She pointed waved a hand and they were both blown apart. The hammerer screamed as he blew apart. Blake turned to Tomas, who was cowering on the floor, and grinned, her eyes still glowing with blackness. Weiss was holding Ruby in her arms and covering the girl's eyes. She stared at Blake in shock. Blake strode over to Tomas and glared down at him.

"I- I give up! Please! I surrender!" He cried.

"I don't care." Blake said.

Tomas exploded, splattering Blake with blood. His organs and bones were sent flying up from the floor a few feet, then plopped back down. The entire place was utterly covered in blood and gore, and the three Huntresses were drenched in it. Blake turned around, looking for more enemies. She didn't find any. Instead, she looked down at Ruby and Weiss.

"Blake, please," Ruby begged, "Stop!"

The blackness suddenly vanished from Blake's eyes. She stumbled, almost losing her balance, and gripped her head, dizzily. She blinked a few times and her eyes were completely back to normal. She looked around at the mess she'd made. Then she turned back to Ruby and Weiss, fear in her eyes.

"Okay..." She breathed, "We should probably... probably go before... before anybody else..."

She suddenly collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Ruby jumped up, pulling herself free from Weiss's arms. She rushed over to Blake, and pulled her up into her arms.

"Blake? Blake!" She cried, "Blake?!"

Weiss put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Come on, carry her. We have to go."


	7. Chapter 7

Blake woke with a start. For the first time in over a week, she hadn't dreamt of Yang. She'd dreamt of herself, unleashing death and destruction. People turned to blood and viscera. The world becoming chaos and pain. A vortex of blood. And at its centre, was Blake. Revelling in the chaos. Blake opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings.

She was once again laying in a hospital bed. There was a dull pain coming from her chest. She pulled down the thin bedsheet covering her and looked at the bandage across her mid-section. A thought occurred to her. Her hand flew up to her head and she ran her fingers along her scalp. Nothing. Just two scars hidden by hair. For just a moment, she'd allowed herself the faintest hope that everything that had happened had just been some twisted dream. She closed her eyes and let a renewed pain wash over her.

She looked around the room. It was a different room then she'd been in a short time ago. She realized she wasn't in the hospital at all; this was Beacon's infirmary. Her injuries weren't as severe this time around. In the corner, curled up on a small sofa, just big enough for two, were Weiss and Ruby. Ruby was asleep, with her head resting on Weiss's chest. Weiss had one arm wrapped around Ruby, the other in a sling, and she stared down at the girl, looking barely awake herself.

Blake sighed. Weiss heard the soft sound and looked over, seeing that Blake was awake. She smiled weakly, then frowned. Carefully, she slipped out from under Ruby, laying her head down on the armrest. She stood, grabbed a smaller chair from next to the sofa, and set it next to the bed. She sat down, staring at Blake.

"How long?" Blake asked, rubbing her eyes.

"A little more than twelve hours," Weiss said, "They say you really overclocked your aura. Drained all your energy."

"Yeah..."

"Blake, do you... do you remember what happened?" Weiss asked, nervously.

Blake looked at her. There was pain in her eyes.

"Of course I do. I just... killed everyone."

"You blew up six people with your mind," Weiss said, "You just looked at them, and..."

"No," Blake said, "It wasn't like I was just looking at them. I felt it, Weiss. I saw them dying, and I could _feel_ that it was me causing it. And I think I..."

Blake trailed off, deciding not to finish the thought.

"You saved our lives." Weiss told her.

"How?" Blake demanded, "How did I do that? What's happening to me?"

I think I might know," Weiss said, finally, "Have you ever heard of T.E.S.S.?"

Blake shook her head.

"Its a medical condition. More of a medical... event, really. It stands for Traumatic Emotional Semblance Shift."

Blake considered these words for a moment.

"My Shadow didn't work," She said, "That's how I got stabbed, I couldn't create a Shadow."

"There have been reported cases where, when a person goes through something terrible, when a single event is so emotional that it changes them as a person, in rare cases, with the right conditions, their Semblance changes with them." Weiss said.

"How?" Blake asked, "Why?"

"Our Semblances aren't just powers. They're representations of our soul. They're a reflection of... who we are. You told us once, Yang and I, about what you thought your Shadows said about you."

"That I run away from my problems," Blake said, nodding, "And leave others behind to take the hit."

"But is that you, anymore?" Weiss asked, "You stayed with Team RWBY even when your past with the White Fang caught up with you. You didn't leave us behind, you stayed and fought. You dedicated yourself to stopping them and Torchwick to make reparations for your past. Your Shadows were still you, but not as much as they used to be. And then... then all of this."

"But... killing people with my mind..." Blake said, "How is that a reflection of me?"

"When it triggered last night, it didn't just happen suddenly. We were about to die. You were in pain, and about to be killed. Maybe your Semblance turned all that pain and fear and grief into a weapon. Focused it and projected it at your enemies."

"Pain and fear and grief." Blake repeated, "No. That's not who I am."

Blake put her face in her hands. She was quiet for a moment, then made a sound; a sort of pained laugh.

"I kill people when I'm sad." She said, "When I get sad enough, people just explode."

"Blake, you're not-" Weiss began, "Blake, I-"

"Is it permanent?" Blake asked.

Weiss shook her head, weakly, "I don't know. It usually is."

Blake hung her head, fighting back tears. They'd taken her ears, they'd taken Yang, and now they'd taken her Semblance, too. What was left of her to be taken still? Was she Blake Belladonna anymore? All those years creating empty copies of herself in battle, and now it felt like she was one herself. A pale, empty reflection of the real her, only existing to take punishment and then vanish into nothingness.

"Those people in the warehouse, the ones who killed Yang," Weiss said, "That was you who killed them."

"Yeah."

"Did you know?" Weiss asked, "Did you know the whole time?"

Blake stared back, silently. Weiss sighed, and looked away.

Blake looked out the window, though all she could see through it was sky. It was a warm, sunny, cloudless day. A flock of birds drifted lazily through the sky.

"I'd been so eager to kill the Guardians," Blake whispered, "And now a bunch of them are dead and it all feels so wrong."

"You saved our lives." Weiss repeated.

"I want nothing to do with this Semblance," Blake said, resolutely, "You're wrong, Weiss. This... thing... is not my reflection. That's not who I am. I'll never use it."

"You don't have to," Weiss said.

"We keep fighting. Find Yang's killer. Make him pay. But I'm going to do it as me."

"Okay." Weiss said.

Blake laid back in the bed, closing her eyes. They sat in silence for a short time.

"So, what's next?" Blake asked, "I sort of... killed most of our leads."

"Not all of them," Weiss said, producing a scroll, "I grabbed a couple of these from the Guardians. Most don't have much on them. Text messages, voice-mails... I was hoping to glean some info, but I didn't have any luck. Until..."

Weiss pulled open the scroll, navigated through a few menus, then opened a document. She turned the scroll over to Blake, who examined the screen, curiously.

"Interesting." She said.

Jerry Chalk was whimpering, rocking back and forth slowly in fear. Tight wiring was cutting into the skin of his arms, holding them to the arms of the chair he was sitting in. He couldn't see anything due to the burlap sack over his head, but he could sense the room was dark. He was gagged by a piece of fabric that tasted foul, unclean. He didn't know how he'd gotten here. The last thing he could remember was lounging in the break-room at Freeman's Shipping, when they were suddenly attacked without warning. Blasts of Dust had sent him and the others flying. He'd been swiftly knocked out with Max's hook-sword. The next thing he knew, he woke up here, wherever here was.

He heard movement behind him. He squirmed in a vain attempt to get free. He shook his head about, hoping to throw off the sack. Suddenly, bright light struck him from above, penetrating the burlap.

"Hope you didn't mind waiting," A cold voice said, behind him.

Jerry made an effort to speak, but was unsuccessful due to the gag.

"Good," The voice said, "Then let's begin."

Jerry sensed the owner of the voice, who sound like a man, maybe in his twenties, walk around in front of him. There was a scraping of metal on the floor as the man pulled up a chair, and Jerry could faintly see a figure sitting down.

"You know, I gotta say, I'm lucky there was any of you left alive," The voice said, frighteningly casual, "I mean, I knew you didn't have a chance against her, but I really wasn't expecting her to turn you all into spaghetti sauce."

Jerry's heart started racing faster. Was his captor telling the truth? Was everybody at Freeman's dead?

"Full of surprises, isn't she?" The man continued, "Knew that since the day we met. Nearly as deadly as me, and almost none of my training."

Jerry made another hopeless attempt at yelling something.

"Yeah, I agree," The voice chuckled, "Attacking her was a huge mistake. Did you even know about her past? What did you think? That after what she did, I wouldn't care what happened to her? That you monsters could go and cut-"

These last words were quite a bit louder before being cut off. The man seemed to try and regain his composure.

"...And I wouldn't make you answer for what you'd done?"

The man slowly stood put and reached out for Jerry. Jerry panicked and helplessly attempt to pull away. With a swift pull, his captor yanked the sack from Jerry's head. Suddenly, the bright overhead lamp's light was uninterrupted. It burned Jerry's eyes. He squeezed them shut as he felt he gag being pulled down, left lazily hanging around his neck. He blinked, letting his eyes adjust. Once he could see properly, he looked at the man sitting in front of him, and was suddenly terrified.

He was tall, and wore a trench-coat of black and red. He had brushed-back brown hair streaked with red. His most noticeable feature was his mask. It was a white mask covering the upper half of his face, frighteningly similar to that of a Grimm. It was decorated with intricate patterns of red that covered the eye slits. Jerry's heart seemed come to a complete stop for a second as he realized just who he was facing.

"Let's talk about the Guardians." He said.


	8. Chapter 8

Lars Glas leaned over the deck of the boat, puffing his cigarette and looking at the black waters of the sea off the coast of Vale. In the distance, in the direction the ship was trundling along in, were the lights of the city. The boat was a respectably sized vessel, some forty feet long, and was used to carry cargo. Tonight, the hold was filled to the brim with drugs. They'd been freshly manufactured at the Guardian's main processing plant and were on their way to be distributed to the gangs and dealers of the city. Ordinarily, they'd be offloaded at the pier and taken to Freeman's, but tonight that wasn't an option. The previous night Freeman's had been hit by those Huntresses from Beacon. Lars had never agreed with Jack's decision to attack one of those lunatics. It seemed like biting off more than they could chew to mess with the most highly trained warriors in all of Vytal. But as usual, Jack would have been able to convince them even if his word wasn't law to the Guardians.

"This animal thinks she can hide what she is from the world. This girl is a terrorist; a White Fang. And now she's infiltrating Beacon," Jack had declared, "That school is for the Heroes of _Humanity_, not degenerate animal-freaks. If Humanity's defenders won't do what's necessary, then that job falls to Humanity's Guardians. We make an example of this cat-freak, show 'em there's a penalty for rising above their station, expose to the world what she is, then kill her. Then we clean up the rest of the animal trash at that school."

The others had all been eager to volunteer for the job after that. Taiyo had already had his spot locked in, since he was providing the Anti-Aura weapons. Rouge and Pale had been the most eager, Pale in particular wanting to "take his first pelt" as he put it. A lot of them were disappointed with Jack made the final call of who would be joining the attack. Even Marcus Ochre had demanded he take part, and when that psychopath wanted something, Jack was the only man Lars knew who had the balls to say no to him.

Even if attacking a Huntress had been a rash decision, Lars felt just as much rage as the rest of the Guardians did at Beacon's response to the attack. The Guardians had done a service to humanity by exposing not only an animal terrorist hiding in plain sight, but the perverted animal-lover she had been in a disgusting inter-species relationship with. They deserved a medal, and instead they were targets of every so-called Defender of Humanity in the city. As dangerous an enemy as they were, Lars was as eager as any Guardian to kill the first Huntsmen or Huntress he saw.

Lars took the butt of his cigarette from his mouth and flicked it into the water. He set off down the side of the sip towards the bow. A low rumble came from above and he glanced upward. His eyes widened at the sight of a Bullhead airship flying over, at an altitude of a couple hundred feet.

"Oh, shit!" He yelled, running for the hatch to the cargo hold, "We've got coast guard!"

Gerald Coch, at the helm, waved to him, "Relax, man, they're not after us. We pay them enough to look the other way. Besides, they're too high up. Nobody's crazy enough to jump from that height."

Lars stopped and looked up. Indeed, the Bullhead seemed to be flying over without slowing down. Even with the most advanced landing strategy, an attacker would reduce speed before making a leap like that. Lars grabbed a pair of binoculars that were lying on top of the control station of the ship and looked upwards. He looked up at the Bullhead. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. The side-door was opened. Looking around with the binoculars, he caught sight of a tiny shape plunging downwards. He lowered the binoculars and drew his falchion. The other dozen or so men on the boat (they'd brought extra guards now that the Guardians were under attack) drew their weapons and tensed up.

The figure had become a streak of white plunging towards the ship. As it came near, it could be made out. A young man, dressed in an armoured hoodie, holding a sword and surfing through the air on a shield. He plunged past 150 feet in height, then 100. By the time he reached 50 feet, it became obvious something was wrong. The figure cried out in surprise, stumbled off his shield, and then fell screaming into the water beside the boat. Everybody stared over the railing, blankly.

"Um..." Gerald began, breaking the confused silence.

Lars turned to Gerald to respond, just in time to catch him being flattened to the deck of the boat as another attacker came slamming down on top of him. Everybody jumped back at the sight of the girl, dressed in elegant armour and wielding a spear and shield. She stood, looked around at the men surrounding her, and adopted a combat stance, still standing on top of Gerald's unconscious body.

"Nice landing, Jaune," She called out.

"I'm fine," Came a squeaking voice from over the side of the boat.

All the Guardians attacked at once. Pyrrha spun, swinging her spear around at ankle level, knocking most of them down. She turned the spin into a leap, repelled off one of the Guardians still standing, and delivered a flying kick to another as she flung her shield into the guy beside him. The shield ping-ponged between a couple of the guardians before finding its way back to her hand. She took a split-second pause out of the combo she was unleashing with her spear to snatch the shield out of the air. Taking a moment to wait for an opening, Lars leapt in, thrusting his falchion precisely. The blade was parried scant inches from Pyrrha's back, as Pyrrha spun and delivered a blow to Lars' gut with her shield. Lars back-stepped, recovered, and jumped back onto the attack. His sword and her spear clashed off each other several times. He swung powerfully from the left, and she raised her shield to block. With a quick sleight-of-hand manoeuvre, he pulled his sword back, and thrust at her exposed belly. Fluidly, she let go of her spear, slapped his sword away with her hand, then grabbed her spear out of the air before it'd fallen an inch. Lars brought his sword up to dodge a swing from the spear. Instead, he was surprised by her tossing her shield up in front of his face, blocking his view. Pyrrha backflipped, kicking her shield directly into his face, knocking him backwards. He stumbled, regained his composure, and got back into combat stance. Pyrrha finished her backflip, caught her shield, and took her own stance. The two glared at each other for a moment, then suddenly, Pyrrha glanced above him, smiling coyly.

Lars glanced upwards and only saw the head of an enormous hammer as it collided with his face. Nora had used her fall to add momentum to her swing, and the impact sent Lars through the floor and then through the hull of the ship, into the water. Nora looked down at the hole she'd knocked through the boat.

"Oops," She said, watching water pour into the cargo hold, "That's gonna be a problem."

"Nice entrance, Nora," Pyrrha said, "Thanks for the help."

"Ahh, no problem. Did you see his face though? He was like "What? Ahh! Splat!" It was great!"

A Guardian appeared behind her from behind a crate on the deck, brandishing a shotgun. He levelled it at her head. She didn't even flinch as he took a barrage of bullets to the chest. Ren gracefully landed on the deck of the ship next to Pyrrha, Stormflower in hand, barrels smoking. Nora turned around and batted the wounded Guardian over the side of the ship with _Magnhild_. Ren flicked his wrists, dropping Stormflower back into his sleeves.

"You really should watch your back, Nora," Ren said, dusting himself off.

"I don't need to, as long as you're around, Ren." Nora said, smiling.

Jaune suddenly vaulted, one-handed, over the railing of the ship. Landing into a crouch with his sword ready, he pulled his shield from his back and brought it up to a defensive position. He looked around, readily. The rest of Team JNPR glanced over at him, bemused. After a few seconds, Jaune stood, looking a little disappointed.

"Alright, we got everybody," Jaune said, "Good job, team."

Pyrrha laughed, "Sorry, Jaune, we'll save somebody for you next time."

"Its fine, it doesn't matter," Jaune said, "Alright, we should search the ship for any information, wake one of these guys up and question them, maybe look for, like, a ship log or something..."

"We might not have time," Pyrrha said.

"Um, why not?" Juane asked, as he squeezed water out of his hoodie.

"The ship is sinking," Nora reported.

"The sh- why is the ship sinking?" Juane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know... Reasons." Nora said, awkwardly positioning herself in front of the hole in the deck, completely failing to conceal it

"Alright," Jaune said, looking around quickly, "Pyrrha, grab any scroll you can get, Nora, grab one of the thugs and call the airship to pick us up. Ren, get the GPS unit and the transponder from the control station, it should be able to tell us where this ship has been. Hurry."

Everybody rushed about. Ren drew one half of Stormflower and used the blade to slice the thin metal holding the transponder to the control station. Nora threw one of the Guardians over her shoulder. Meanwhile, Jaune found an emergency self-inflating dingy. He pulled the cord and let it inflate. He dragged all the unconscious bodies he could find to it and tossed them in. He left the dingy on the deck, where it would stay floating after the boat sank from under it. The airship came about, hovering over the water next to the boat, which was quickly sinking into the black water. Pyrrha leapt up into the airship, taking hold of the edge of the door to support herself. Nora tossed the unconscious Guardian up to her, and Pyrrha caught him. Nora, Ren, and Jaune jumped up onto the airship, leaving the sinking hulk of the ship. The airship's engines flared up, and it took off towards the shore, a couple of miles away.

The pilot of the airship, John Maranz, who was the pilot for most of JNPR's missions, looked back.

"We gonna close the door?" He called.

"Yeah, just a moment," Jaune said, looking at the unconscious Guardian, "Keep us below the altitude for a deadly fall."

Pyrrha lifted the Guardian up by the front of his shirt, slapped him a few times to wake him, then thrust him out the side of the ship. The Guardian woke, looked down, his eyes widened.

"Wha- oh, shit!" He yelled, "Wait, hey, hey!"

"Alright, listen up," Jaune said, "We found out from some of your friends at Freeman's that you and your asshole friends are operating on an island off the coast of Vale. But it was only mentioned in a few texts, so we don't know which island it is or where."

"Fuck you, Huntsman," The Guardian yelled.

Pyrrha let go of his shirt, letting him drop a few inches, then caught him by the throat. He flailed helplessly.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He yelled.

"Look, dickhead, you can ride back to the city with us, or you can swim there. Its not too far, actually. You'll be fine as long as you can outswim the Sea Grimm. There are probably a few swimming around down there. The price of staying on this ship is the name of the island the Guardians are set up on."

"I ain't telling you shit, you little punk. And you ain't dropping me! If I have information you need, you can't afford to drop me! There's nothing you can-"

"Got it!" Nora said, reading from one of the stolen scrolls, "Deumont Island! This mentions that the compound is there!"

Jaune grinned, and turned to the Guardian. The Guardian stared back, blankly.

"Thank you for your help!" Pyrrha said.

"Wait, can we-" He began.

Pyrrha let him go, pulling the door closed without even watching him fall.

"Alright, so, where's Deumont Island?" Pyrrha asked.

"I've heard of it," Ren said, "It's a pretty big island to the southwest. There was an attempt a few decades ago to build a Dust mine there, but was abandoned when it was discovered that the island had a much higher than average concentration of Grimm."

"So if the Guardians were able to set up a base there," Jaune said, "they must be much more powerful then we thought."

"So, next move?" Pyrrha asked.

"Call team RWBY, they'll want to hear about this."

Blake looked around the storage building of Vale's port, tensed and ready for any guards that they missed. The walls, floor, and some of the shipping crates were decorated with bullets holes, strewn casings, and Dust burns from the brief fight that had happened a few minutes previously. There were several unconscious guards laying about. Several employees at the port had surrendered without a fight, and were now on their knees in a row, being held at gunpoint by Ruby. They weren't Guardians, and most of them didn't even know about the drug shipment that was due that night. Blake had been disappointed about what she thought was another wasted night, but Weiss had insisted that they had made progress by shutting down the shipment. Blake could tell Weiss was dissatisfied too, but appreciated her attempt to be optimistic. The team was long overdue for a bit of optimism. Still, the lack of progress was frustrating.

"Alright," Weiss said to the men in front of her, "Now I'm going to say this again. If anybody has information on the Guardians, it would be in your best interest to come forward. Anybody who gives us something useful is free to go before the police arrive. Anybody who tries to lie... Ruby, please make your gun click loudly for dramatic effect."

Ruby chambered a new round, causing an unused cartridge to fly out of Crescent Rose. Ruby caught it out of the air, looked at it quizzically, then pocketed it.

"Thank you, Ruby- ...will regret it."

Ruby leaned over to Weiss, "Weiss, I'm not actually going to shoot any of them, right?"

Weiss put her palm over her face, "No, Ruby, but up until you just said that, they didn't know that."

"Oh, right," Ruby said.

Ruby's scroll started beeping, and she shift Crescent of to one hand, pulled her scroll open with her teeth, and looked down at it.

"Oh hey, Jaune!" She said, before turning to Weiss and Blake, "It's Jaune, guys! What's up, Jaune?"

"Ruby, we got lucky. Intercepted the Guardian's drug shipment."

"You have the boat?" Blake called to the scroll.

"Uh, no. The boat kind of sank." Jaune reported.

Weiss looked confused, "Why did the boat sink?"

Nora's voice came through the scroll, "Reasons!"

"Did you get any useful information?" Blake asked.

"Oh boy, did we," Jaune said, "We know where the Guardians are hiding. Deumont Island. Call the other teams. We have to plan our next move."

"Got it," Ruby said, "Thanks, Jaune!"

"Alright, talk to you later." Jaune said, before hanging up.

"Okay, then" Ruby said, turning to their hostages, "I guess you guys are free to go."

"Hold on," Blake said, "Before you go, does anybody have a scroll I could borrow?"

Ruby held out her own scroll to Blake.

Blake smiled, "Thanks, Ruby, but I need one of theirs."

Looking confused, one of the port employees reached into his pocket and handed Blake his scroll. She pulled it open and quickly dialled a number. A moment of silence passed, only broken by the sound of ringing from the scroll. Suddenly a familiar voice came through the scroll.

"Uh, hello? Sheriff Auburn speaking," The voice said, "Who's this?"

"You told me to call you if I had more information." Blake said.

"Miss Bel- I mean- yes?" Auburn was confused for just a moment.

"The Guardians are shipping drugs into the city through the port. Its too big of an operation to not be noticed by somebody. We think the Coast Guard is being paid off."

"...Okay, that's very useful. There'll be a lot of red tape to work through before we can start a formal investigation, but-."

"That's fine. Just keep going after the people the Guardians are connected to. Leave the Guardians themselves to us."

"Uh... yeah," Auburn said, "Wait, before you go, there was an incident at a place called Free-"

Blake closed the scroll. She walked over to the door, leaned outside, and chucked the scroll into the water. The scroll's owner stammered in confusion.

"Alright, get out of here." Blake ordered.

Blake, Weiss, and Ruby left the building and walked towards the pier. Blake looked out at the sea, thoughtfully.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Weiss said.

"Deumont Island," Blake said, nodding, "Its time to take the fight to them."


	9. Chapter 9

In the distance, the hum of an engine, and the blowing of wind. They could be heard as if from over a distant hill. Mere unimportant background noise; it couldn't distract from this moment. These precious seconds where the world's injustice and pain meant nothing. Wrapped in the arms of her goddess again. Blake pressed her face into Yang's shoulder, smelling that soft scent, like fresh air in summer. Yang held Blake close, stroking her back. She was nibbling on one of Blake's pointed ears playfully, and it was driving Blake wild. She pulled herself closer to Yang, wanting to further immerse herself in her warmth and soft touch. She could feel the rhythmic thumping of Yang's heart, and the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. She wished she could stay here forever, yet more than ever before she could feel time passing. The goddess's embrace that had once been timeless was now a fleeting pleasure. A cruelly brief respite from a world without her.

"Yang..." Blake whispered.

Yang shushed her, the soft sound tickling her ear.

"Yang, I'm falling apart without you," Blake whimpered, "My Shadows are gone. And in their place is this... monstrous thing."

Yang squeezed her ever tighter.

"He took everything, Yang," Blake cried, "He took you away from me, he took my ears, and now he's taken who I am."

"He didn't, Blake," Yang whispered, reassuring, but saddened, "Your Shadows aren't gone, they're still who you are. They're still within you, just hidden away."

"How can they still be me? How can I ever be who I was before if I don't have you?"

"You'll find a way. You'll never not be the girl I fell in love with. The world has tried to change you before. When the White Fang became what they are, they tried to change you with them, and they failed. You'll always be the girl who sees the cruelty of the world, but instead of becoming it, tries to change it."

Blake had nothing to say to this, so she remained silent. She tucked her head under Yang's chin and listened to Yang's heart. She closed her eyes, letting herself once again be lost in that warmth. With Yang's head over her's, she was draped in those locks of golden hair. But there was something different, something wrong. A cold breeze rustled Yang's hair. Blake could feel something in that cold breeze, a presence. Somebody unwelcome, an intruder on the moment she and Yang shared. Blake opened her eyes, and peered over Yang's shoulder. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Yang," Blake whispered, "He's here."

Gently, Yang placed her hands on the sides of Blake's face. She pressed Blake's forehead against her own.

"Don't look at him. Look at me."

"Yang, I can't keep doing this," Blake cried, "Seeing it over and over... it'll destroy me."

"Its okay, Blake, Its okay."

"Its not! Stop saying its okay, Yang."

"Hold me, Blake. I'm not afraid of it, but I hate being taken away from you."

"Yang..."

A sound of metal cutting flesh. Striking bone. Something wet splattered against Blake. Suddenly, Blake felt hands grabbing her by the shoulder. She felt herself being pulled away from her goddess.

"Blake!" A desperate cry, "_Wake up!_"

Blake snapped her eyes open. She was staring into the face of Ruby Rose. The rumbling engine of a Bullhead and the rushing wind surrounded them. They were flying over the sea.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Ruby said, smiling, "We're almost there."

Blake rubbed her eyes and stood. Ruby walked to the front of the Bullhead to address the pilot.

"We're going to open the door and drop in at the beach." She said, "Pull a U-turn as soon as we're within range, and stay low. Circle around nearby and be ready to extract in a hurry."

Blake joined Weiss, who was holding the hand-grip above the door. Weiss looked at Blake with concern.

"Dreams again?" Weiss asked.

"I'm fine." Blake said.

Weiss reached over and pulled the door release. With a pneumatic hiss, the door slid open. Blake's hair blew about in the wind. In the distance she could see Deumont Island rising out of the sea. It was several hundred kilometers square of forest. Aerial reconnaissance had been useless in finding where the Guardians were hidden. There were buildings scattered all over the island, some in a state of ruin, most not. The Guardians could be holed up in any one of them. The most useful information was a bit of a riddle: Grimm activity was not evenly spread out, nor gathered around the ruins. They were mostly clustered in hot spots randomly strewn across the island, with no rhyme or reason.

Blake spotted motion in the air some distance in the air some distance away. Another Bullhead heading towards the island. Blake knew team JNPR was inside. The teams had all come up with a search pattern that would let them check each building while avoiding the Grimm hot spots. It was only a matter of time before they found the Guardians.

"Alright," Ruby said, taking her position just behind Blake and Weiss, "Drop coming up. Team, get your landing strategies ready."

They came up on the beach and the Bullhead banked, beginning its turn. As it reached the middle of the turn, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby leapt out in unison. The beach rushed up to meet them. Weiss cast a few glyphs beneath herself, repelling off them gracefully before landing. Ruby fired three quick shots downward with Crescent Rose to counter her momentum, then struck the ground, not quite as gracefully as Weiss. Blake spread out her arms and legs as she fell, then let her legs go almost limp as she landed, providing just enough resistance to safely absorb the impact. She stood, stretched, and the three of them marched towards the treeline.

It was darker in the trees, beneath the canopy of branches and leaves. The air felt weird, cold and heavy, as if the air itself was poisoned by the negativity of the Grimm. They were deep within the uncivilized wilderness of Remnant, far from the light of civilization. Even Mountain Glenn hadn't felt this tainted by darkness. The trees were ugly, scraggy things, the branches looking like twisted skeletal limbs. There was no birdsong, save for the occasionally rasping caw of small Nevermores. Blake wondered if there were any animals on this island at all that weren't Grimm.

They had been walking for almost fifteen minutes, speaking little except for pointing out Grimm tracks or claw marks on trees, when they happened upon something unexpected. Blake had glanced down at the dirt and noticed a pattern to complex to be natural. She signalled to the others to stop, then nodded towards the impression in the earth. It was a tire track, from some sort of all-terrain vehicle. It looked to be old, but not nearly old enough to be left by the previous inhabitants of the island. The track weaved its way through the bushes to their left.

"Might as well see where they lead," Ruby said, with a shrug.

"We can take a detour, but we shouldn't compromise the search pattern," Weiss said.

"Right," Ruby said.

She deployed Crescent casually and sliced a tree next to her in half.

"Follow the tracks as far as they go," She said, "Then follow them back to this spot."

They set off following the tracks. They spent almost 10 minutes winding through the trees and bushes, almost losing the track a couple of times, but finding it again in short order. It wasn't long before Blake began to sense something.

"I hear something," She whispered, "Lots of movement up ahead."

"People?" Weiss asked.

"No." Blake said.

She looked around, picked a sturdy looking tree, and scampered up the side of it. She pulled herself up to a high branch and looked out ahead. Just a hundred meters or so ahead, the forest opened up into a clearing. It was almost impossible to see the grass. The clearing was absolutely swarming with Grimm. There were Beowolves, Boarbatusks, Ursa, even a few King Taijitsus. They were grouped together far more tightly than would be expected from Grimm in the wild. There was something in the center of the clearing, something Blake couldn't see clearly, that some of them seemed to have particular interest in.

Blake dropped out of the tree, landing next to Weiss and Ruby.

"We have to go back, its one of the Grimm hotspots," She reported, "Too many, even for us."

"Why do the tracks lead there?" Ruby asked.

"Good question," Weiss nodded, "This is very strange."

"I thought I saw something in the center of the clearing. Something artificial. But its too dangerous. We should go back."

Ruby once again pulled out Crescent Rose, this time switching it into rifle mode. She pointed it straight up.

"When I fire, we get up into the trees." She said, with a sly grin.

She fired. The sound of the shot had barely dissipated into the air before an unholy cacophony came from the clearing. The three of them jumped into the trees above them as the sound of a stampede closed in. They concealed themselves in the branches and watch a living river of blackness poured through the jungle beneath them. Blake held her breath, watching in amazement at the sheer number of monsters passing beneath them. They stayed up in the tree for a good minute or so after the last one ran past. Then, they dropped down and proceeded.

"Well, that was interesting." Weiss said, "And dangerous."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ruby said.

"Maybe give us a little more warning next time." Blake suggested.

"Alright, but I still don't think it would have-"

She was suddenly cut off by Weiss crying out in fright. They had walked a few meters into the clearing and could see the structure at its centre. It was a large steel cage, elevated off the ground by metal struts, holding it in the air 3 or 4 meters off the ground. The cage bars were covered in claw marks and scratches, but the Grimm had failed to breach it. This hadn't helped the cage's occupant, who was very much dead. They looked like they'd been there a long time. There was nothing left but a skeleton covered in rot. The bony remnants of the skeleton's fingers were wrapped around the bars of the cage, and the lower jaw hung off the skull in a macabre silent scream.

"What in the name of-" Weiss whispered.

"I- I-" Ruby stammered, unable to process what she was seeing.

Blake understood.

"W- what is that? Hanging from his pelvis?" Weiss asked, "Is that intestine?"

"No." Blake said, "Its his tail."

"What is _wrong_ with these people?!"

"I still don't understand. This many Grimm? Drawn to one Faunus?"

"They're not drawn to him, they're drawn to his pain," Blake said, "Negative emotions, remember? They kidnap him, torture him, lock him up here all alone, waiting to die. His negative emotions draw them in and keep them here, even after he starves. This is how they draw the Grimm away from themselves."

Ruby dropped to her knees. Blake looked over to her, and felt her heart grow heavy with sympathy. Ruby was weeping.

"Perhaps it'd be better to avoid these hotspots from here on." Weiss said.

"Agreed." Said Blake.

"Okay, let's... let's move on," Ruby said.

They proceeded out of the clearing. They used the map on their scrolls to put themselves back on their original path far away from where they'd left it. They didn't want to run back into the herd. They set out on a course that would bring them to the nearest group of buildings within 15 minutes.

_I'm going to put a stop to all of this, Yang,_ Blake thought, _I'm going to make them all pay for what they've done._


	10. Chapter 10

Thick, black smoke filled the air. Every breath carried a foul stench. Ash clung to Blake's clothes. Immense heat was all around her, and she could barely see for all the dancing flame. The ground beneath her was the only place she could see that wasn't being engulfed in flame with the rest of the drug field. The world seemed inverted as she reached the midpoint of a backflip. Time passing slowly, she levelled the weapon she'd stolen from the hands of the enemy and fired. The bullet cut through the thick smoke and caught her target in the chest. His aura shattered and he fell backwards. Blake continued spinning through the air and landed safely on the ground. Flame was closing in. Blake scanned the walls of approaching fire, looking for an opening to escape.

Between the dancing pillars of red and orange, she spotted Weiss. Weiss caught her eye and aimed Myrtenaster into the air. A glyph appeared just above the flames between the two of them. Blake crouched, putting as much strength as she could into her jump. She leaped into the air, and repelled off the glyph, feeling the wave of heat from beneath. She landed next to Weiss, nodded to thank her for the save, and the two of them charged the nearby Guardians together. Blake jumped at the nearest enemy, spun and kicked him in the face. She pushed off him, shot another as she passed over him, and struck a third with the blade on the pistol. Weiss took down the first Blake had kicked with a Dust blast. The one who'd been shot hadn't been dropped by the attack. He swung his axe at Weiss. Weiss quickly threw up a glyph between them, and the axe bounced off, throwing the Guardian backwards. Weiss let the glyph disappear, then shot forward, stabbing Myrtenaster into him. Weiss glanced around, and saw a heavily armoured Guardian charging with a drill-spear. Weiss adopted a fighting stance, readying herself to parry. As her opponent closed in, she saw a blur of movement over his shoulder. He was caught off guard by a cloud of rose petals that struck him from behind. He started to turn, but was interrupted by the hook of a scythe catching him around the neck. He was dragged off his feet as Ruby shot past him. She twisted Crescent, sending him slamming headfirst into the ground. She swung Crescent Rose around, adopting a victorious pose.

Blake quickly scanned the area for more of them. The field had only been guarded by around ten men. The fight had been closer than Blake would have liked. Burning the field had caught their enemy off guard, but Blake couldn't say how well the fight would have gone otherwise. The Guardians were proving to be a formidable threat, even in small numbers.

"Setting the entire field on fire really worked out great, Ruby," Weiss said, as they retreated from the flames.

"It worked, didn't it?" Ruby said, shrugging.

"I wasn't being sarcastic," Weiss said, "It was genuinely a great plan."

"The fire's going to draw in more of them," Blake said.

"Right," Ruby said, "Get into the trees, recon their response to the attack. It'll be useful intel."

They ran from the burning field, a short distance down a dirt road that lead further into the island, and into the brush. They crouched down, and made sure they were hidden from view. Blake peered through the bushes, watching the road. Weiss stared up at the massive column of black smoke rising into the sky. The three of them sat in silence, waiting. Several minutes passed with a word being spoken. Eventually, Weiss looked over at Blake. She was still staring at the road with absolute focus. The way she crouched, a comfortable enough position to hold but ready to burst into movement at a moment's notice, reminded Weiss of a panther on the hunt. Blake's eyes were cold, almost emotionless, but hinted at an intense fire beneath the surface. Weiss watched Blake for a few seconds, thoughtfully. Something had been nagging at her since the clearing. Finally, Weiss gave in to curiousity and spoke.

"How did you know?" She whispered.

Blake turned to her, raising an eyebrow. Ruby glanced over, similarly confused.

"How did you know what the cage was for?" Weiss asked.

Blake turned back to the road, remained silent for a brief time. For a moment, Weiss wondered if she was going to reply at all. Finally, Blake answered.

"I've never seen it done like that," She whispered.

"Did the White Fang...?" Ruby asked.

"No. Well..." Blake began, "It was a long time ago. I was on a job with three others. Two of them were... I can't remember their names. The other was named Verte. We ambushed a shipment of Dust outside the Kingdom. They had more security than we expected. Verte and I survived, the other two were killed. And the truck we'd been planning to drive back to the Kingdom was destroyed. We had 20 kilometers to walk through Grimm territory. I was young, still learning, I thought for sure we would die out there. The driver of the truck, he was still alive. We had been planning on taking him prisoner. Negotiate with Schnee for a tidy ransom for his release. But now... Verte said he'd just slow us down. Said we could lock him in the back of the truck. Said he'd bait the Grimm away from us as long as... as long as he was in pain."

Blake seemed to be having trouble speaking. Ruby sat next to her and wrapped an arm around he shoulders.

"When we got back, Adam was... he was different back then. There was still some of him left that cared about humans. He was furious at Verte. Told him he'd gone too far. Told him he was the reason people saw the Faunus as animals. Threw him out."

Weiss didn't know what to say. She stayed silent, watching the road. She wondered, not for the first time, about all the things Blake had seen in her life. She felt like she was starting to understand what made her so distant sometimes, so hesitant to trust others. It made her all the more impressed by Blake's resolve to make the world a better place. Weiss felt almost privileged to be on a team with her.

The sound of an engine rumbled in the distance. There was a truck approaching, down the road. The three of them tensed up. They watched, holding their breaths, as not one but three large trucks rolled by, kicking up the dirt of the road as they passed. They pulled up to the burning field, still aflame but starting to die down. Men started pouring out of the covered backs of the trucks; at least ten from each. All of them were armed with powerful weapons. One guy, who seemed to be in charge, took a moment to survey the destruction, then turned and began barking orders to the group. The three Huntresses couldn't make out what was being said, but understood the meaning of the way he pointed to the trees surrounding the field.

"Let's fall back," Ruby whispered, "Hit them somewhere else while they're still looking for us here."

Blake and Weiss agreed. They slipped away, deeper into the forest, as the Guardians began searching for them. They moved a sufficient distance, until they decided it was safe to stop and plan their next move. Ruby and Weiss examined their map, trying to pick which building was most likely to house more Guardians. Blake stood watch. Eventually, Ruby and Weiss agreed to travel southeast. Ruby used the scroll to call Jaune.

"Jaune, you there?" Ruby asked, "The Guardians know we're here now, so be careful."

"Copy that," Jaune said, "There's a pretty big column of smoke south of us, was that you?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, "Burned down a drug field. Now moving southeast."

"Alright," Jaune replied, "JNPR is moving east, we think there's a group of them in one of the buildings up ahead. Wish us luck."

"Right, good luck, stay safe," Ruby said, "I don't want us stuck here after dark, so we should start heading back to the beach within the hour."

"Good idea," Jaune said, "Team JNPR out."

It was just after sunset, and Ozpin had had a very long day. He strode down the hall to the elevator that would take him to his office, knowing that a pile of paperwork waited for him there. He awkwardly held his cane under the crook of his arm, as both of his hands were occupied. In his right hand he held a fresh cup of coffee, in his left, his scroll. From the scroll, a voice he'd become far more familiar with than he'd have cared to was droning on.

"...and I don't have any intention of getting in their way, but I still have to do my job," Sheriff Auburn was saying, "And balancing those two things is getting harder and harder."

"Han," Ozpin said, sighing, "I am bothered by the implications of recent events just as you are. But there is no reason to believe that what little we know paints the whole picture."

Ozpin stepped into the elevator and hit the button that would take him to his office. He closed his eyes as the elevator hummed.

"With respect, sir, you must realize there's something that Belladonna knows that she isn't telling the police. She knows something about whoever is killing these people."

"Blake Belladonna is among the most enigmatic young Huntresses I have met in some time. And after what she's been through, I'm sure you can appreciate her being even less trusting of others than one might usually expect."

"All I'm worried about is that if she's protecting somebody, she might not realize how dangerous they could be."

The elevator reached the top floor of Beacon's highest tower, and a cheerful bell dinged. Ozpin stepped out of the elevator, looked up, and stopped moving mid-step. His chair, which he always pushed in when leaving his office, was turned around, facing the window. Ozpin got the distinct sense that somebody was sitting in it. Ozpin raised an eyebrow and took sip from his coffee.

"All I'm asking is that you ask her to come back in for more questioning. I don't want to stop them from going after the Guardians, but-"

Ozpin's chair suddenly swung around, so that its occupant faced the headmaster. Ozpin's eyes widened, and he slowly lowered his coffee mug from his lips. His grip on the scroll tightened slightly. He was staring into the face of a man he hadn't seen in a long time. Auburn's voice was still coming through the scroll, but Ozpin wasn't listening.

"-because if I'm supposed to be helping out in this fight where I can, its important that-"

Ozpin closed the scroll. He slid it into his jacket, slowly. The man sitting in his chair smiled at him, coyly. Ozpin took hold of his cane, and removed it from under his other arm. He gripped the handle, tensely.

"Hello, Ozpin." The man said to him, casually.

"Hello, Adam," Ozpin replied.


	11. Chapter 11

"-because if I'm supposed to be helping out in this fight where I can, its important that I'm on the same page as everybody else, or I'm just... hello?"

Han looked down at his scroll. Ozpin had terminated the call. Han sighed, closed his scroll, and tossed it down onto his desk. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. After a moment of thought, he looked around his office. The lights were out, and the room was dim. The only illumination came from the soft glow of the holograms being projected from the emitter on his desk. They displayed various crime scene photos, criminal profiles, and other information related to the ongoing case. Scattered on the surface of the desk beneath the holograms was additional information on physical paper. Both the surface of the desk and the holo-screen had been cluttered with information since the killing of Beacon student over a week ago. Each new development in the case seemed to answer no questions, but raise more. Han looked up at the photo of the loading floor at Freeman's, covered in bloodied remains. He compared it to a photo of the exploded bodies at the warehouse where Yang Xiao Long had been murdered. He scratched his chin.

Eyewitness accounts by surviving employees at Freeman's put three young girls, matching the descriptions of Blake and the other surviving members of her team, on the scene as the attackers. However, all survivors were rendered unconscious before the killing started. Han's intuition told him that the three girls had been attacking the place in pursuit of the Guardians- it had been confirmed that Freeman's was a front- and had at some point been joined in the assault by the same unidentified suspect who had intervened at the warehouse. But why did he wait to join them? Did they see him, and if they did, why were they concealing his identity? There was one Guardian, a "Jerry Chalk", who was there that night, but hadn't been seen since. Where was he?

The door to Han's office opened. Light from the hall struck him in the eyes, and he winced. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked up and saw his old friend, Phil Prism. Phil Prism had been the Chief of the Forensics Unit since before Han had gotten out of the police academy. They'd become good friends over the last few years. Han liked Prism, despite his occasional arrogance and jaded attitude towards the crimes they investigated together. Prism was currently standing in the door frame, coffee in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

"How's it going, Auburn?" Prism asked, "You crack the case, yet?"

Han glanced at the most recently opened file on the holo-screen. A list of employees on the coast guard. Belladonna had called him with a tip about them two days prior. Han had been carefully going through each employee's file, seeing if there might be a connection to the Guardians. It was an arduous process that was getting Han nowhere.

"We don't know the routes the Guardians use to ship their drugs," Han said, "Don't know which coast guards they would have to pay off. There's enough red tape here to keep me at this for the next three days."

"There goes your weekend, huh?" Prism quipped.

"How about you, Prism?" Han asked.

"Trying to sort through the mess my idiot lab techs made of the Freeman's scene." Prism said, "Some evidence was contaminated."

"Are you serious?" Han asked, in disbelief, "How much did we lose?"

"We may have trouble making a case for the place's involvement in Guardian activity."

Han slammed his fist down the desk in anger. He rubbed his temples.

"For shit's sake, is there anything this department can do that a bunch of teenagers aren't doing better?" Han yelled, "All we're doing is cleaning up after them, and we can't even do that right!"

"I don't know what to tell you, Auburn. This shit just happens, sometimes."

"Is there anything else, Prism? Give me some good news for once."

"Sorry, Auburn," Prism said, sipping his coffee, "We, uh, found that boat that sank offshore. Ton of drugs in the cargo hold. Water damage means the evidence was gone, but we think we know who crewed the boat. They washed up on shore the day before yesterday in a life raft."

"An emergency life raft?" Han asked, "Those have ID tags matching them to the boat they come from, right?"

"They're supposed too, yeah," Prism said, "But this one's tags had been removed. Which is a misdemeanour, but other than that, they'll walk."

Auburn shook his head. He looked at his phone and considered calling Ozpin back. He eventually shrugged, and turned his attention back to the list of suspects from the coast guard.

"Right, well, Prism, I'm going to get back to this, if you don't mind. Ozpin can call me back whenever. I'm sure whatever made him hang up on me is important, too."

Ozpin and Adam glared at each other. Seconds ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace. The silence was deafening. Ozpin stared at the intruder over the rims of his glasses. He sipped his coffee, thoughtfully. Adam looked back at him, grinning cockily. He rubbed his chin and waited to see if Ozpin would break the silence first. Ozpin was adjusting his grip on his cane with imperceptibly subtle movements, readying to bring it up to fighting stance at moment's notice. Adam's right hand was hanging off the arm's rest of Ozpin's chair, fiddling idly with the hilt of his sword, which was propper up beside him. Adam looked around, seemingly a tad bored, and finally spoke.

"Like the office, Ozzy," He said, "You'd think the gears in the desk would get distracting, though."

"Adam, Why are you here?" Ozpin demanded.

"This chair is pretty comfy," Adam noted, before chuckling, "Is the back of it supposed to look like-"

"Adam. I am not in the mood to do this. Tell me why you're here or get out."

Adam sighed. He stood up, picking up his sword as he did so. Ozpin tensed up. Adam stepped out to one side of the desk and leaned against it.

"What's the matter, old man? Nervous?" Adam jested.

"Hardly," Ozpin replied, "We've fought before. We both know how that ended."

"I'm even stronger than I was back then," Adam said, "Faster, too."

"I'm not going to fight you, Adam. I don't want to spill my coffee."

Adam stared at him. Ozpin met his gaze, but kept an eye on his hands in his peripheral vision. Adam's grip was tight on his sword.

"I'll ask again, Adam Taurus," Ozpin said, authoritatively, " Why are you here?"

"Alright, you want to hear what I have to say?" Adam asked, suddenly looking more serious, "Then I'm going to tell you, and you're going to shut up and listen."

Ozpin sipped his coffee. There was a brief pause. He raised his eyebrows and motioned with his hand for Adam to continue.

"You know, Ozzy, I believed in who you said you were when you were training me. Ozpin, the great and powerful warrior. Ozpin, the wise, patient master. A voice of reason, who just wants peace in this violent world. It's all crap. You project this image of this wise, grandfatherly figure who's three steps ahead of everybody else. Sees people's inner strengths and values and... cares about their lives. And it's all a load of crap."

Ozpin walked forward. He strode right past Adam on his way to his chair. The two made eye contact as he passed within inches. He sat down, relaxed, but kept his cane in his hand. He sipped his coffee again and then set it on the desktop.

"I know who you are, Ozpin. And I know what you do under the guise of being the wise headmaster. You advanced a child two years so she could come to your little school, and threw her into mortal danger on the hunch that she could handle it. You put the responsibility of leadership on her because it amused you to do it. You turned a blind eye when an idiot kid without the training to be here forged his paperwork. What, would the problem have resolved itself if he got killed on his first day?"

Ozpin cracked his mouth open slightly, considering saying something. Adam continued.

"You broke your own rules to send a team of first-years to Mountain Glenn! And you still carry around that air of being the cool, mysterious wise-man headmaster, simply because you were lucky enough that they didn't all die! And what about what happened to Blake, and the blonde girl? All you know about the Guardians is that they bested two of the best fighters in your little school, and you threw the rest of your students at them? Is it their revenge they're fighting for, or yours? Do you even care how many of them are going to get killed?"

"That is _enough_, Adam Taurus!" Ozpin said, forcefully, "I make decisions some might call irresponsible, and I use methods that some would call dangerous, but I will not have you put the blood of my students on me. Are your hands so clean, after all the things you've done? How many young Faunus have you sent to their deaths?"

"I make no excuses for myself. I'm not a hero, I'm a revolutionary. And I have done terrible things for that revolution. But the people I lead know who I am. I don't put up a façade of the enigmatic mastermind who has everything planned out, or tell them they're safe before sending them to fight for their lives. I don't tell their parents that I'll protect them, then make every effort to thrust them in over their heads in mortal danger! You do that, and everybody buys it, and that _pisses me off._"

"I have never claimed that the challenges these students face are free of danger," Ozpin said, "You misjudge me, Adam. How people look at me is up to them, I make no effort to hide my mistakes or make myself free of blame. What you mistake for people being misled is simply them understanding that my actions all work towards a common a goal; a greater good. Perhaps you are bothered that they see my actions in this light, and not your own?"

Adam seemed to grit his teeth behind his closed lips. He gripped the hilt of his sword a little tighter.

"Did you just come here to accuse me, Adam?" Ozpin asked, "Why now?"

Adam let go of his sword and crossed his arms.

"No, I've just had that on my chest for a while and thought I'd open with it," He said, "The reason I came here was to warn you."

"About what?"

"Had a chat with one of the Guardians. He's dead now, but before he died I made him tell me everything he knew. And he knew a lot. Things about this school, information on every student, things he shouldn't have known. They knew Blake used to be White Fang, its why they attacked her. You have a leak."

"A leak?" Ozpin repeated, suddenly growing in concern.

"I don't know if they're in the school, but somebody is feeding them information. Probably been doing it for a while. Is there anybody but you in this school who knows Blake was White Fang?"

Ozpin sighed, reached forward and grabbed his mug. He sipped it, thoughtfully.

"Other than her team? No." He said.

"Isn't one of the girls on that team Schnee? The heiress?"

"Weiss Schnee did not betray her team." Ozpin said.

"If you say so. But if you're wrong..."

"I'm not."

Before they could continue, they both were alerted to the arrival of the elevator. Adam stood, facing the elevator door, in combat stance. Ozpin rose, walked around his desk and stood next to Adam, leaning on his cane. The door opened and Glynda Goodwitch stepped out into the office, looking down at her scroll. She appeared uncharacteristically distraught.

"Professor, something's happened. The-" She began, before looking up.

Her eyes widened at the sight of Adam Taurus. Adam dropped out of his combat stance and leaned back against the desk, casually. Glynda quickly drew her crop and extended it, aiming it at Adam.

"Hey, Teach," Adam quipped, with a small wave, "What's up?"

"Professor?" Glynda asked, nervously glancing at Ozpin.

"It's okay, Glynda," Ozpin said, "Mr. Taurus was just leaving."

Adam glanced over to him, "Oh, that's how it is, huh? Alright, fine. It was good to catch up, Ozpin. See you soon."

He made his way to the elevator, giving Glynda a casual nod as he walked past. She looked back at him in utter confusion.

"What's happened, Glynda?" Ozpin asked.

"S-sir, something- something bad. I just got a call from the infirmary."

Adam had been facing the elevator, waiting for the doors to open. He looked back over his shoulder, curiously.

"Team JNPR was just brought in."

Ozpin set his mug down. His breath caught in his throat.

"They're badly injured. But... there's only three of them."

Ozpin's jaw fell. He was at a loss of words. Adam turned back to the elevator, stepped inside, and looked back to Ozpin.

"Another kid you got killed, Ozpin," Adam said, "I'll leave you to it."

He hit a button on the control panel. The door closed, and he was gone.


End file.
